Main:  Pappardelle with Duck Ragu & Sugar Snap Peas
Unknown (from the doctor’s waiting room)

Dessert:  Fig & Raspberry Clafoutis
Women’s Weekly The Baking Collection

Hi Everyone,

Hope you’ve had a great week.  It’s been fabulous to see the rain and also know that all the fires are out.  The weather is starting to cool and whilst I’ll  still be doing some salads as autumn moves in, I really wanted to try this duck ragu. It’s a recipe that requires more of your time than others I have done so not an after work meal.  There’s not a lot of ingredients in the sauce so it’s fairly straight forward but I don’t cook duck very often and when I have it’s been a bit of a flop so I wanted to revisit the thing I have messed up and give it another go but from a different angle.  The idea of a slow cook appealed to me and making the pappardelle by hand was also inviting – almost therapeutic in a way.  I liken it to sewing or knitting – there is a total emersion in the task.

This recipe needs to be started at least a day ahead.  I started on Monday and salted the duck Marylands for 24 hours before doing the slow cook on Tuesday and keeping the meat in an airtight container in the fridge for Wednesday.  Keep in mind that duck Marylands don’t amount to much meat once shredded from the bone.

So the main bulk of this meal is in the pasta.  What fun that was to make with my new Kitchen Aid dough hook.  However, rolling it out takes time and patience.  It tasted just fine and was tender but a bit thick so my next investment will be the Kitchen Aid attachment that rolls the dough.  It was certainly fun and cathartic and messy – I just loved it.  With the sauce it suggests that you push the cooked tomatoes and onion etc through a sieve or mouli but I find that such a waste in a sauce as rustic as this so I just gave it a zap in the food processor for literally 40 seconds and then back in the pot.  Your choice of course but it gave it a roughness that was a lot more earthy and tasty.  So this was definitely a change for us from the usual chicken and the consensus was that it was a tasty sauce, the pasta was too thick but nevertheless tender and it was given 7/10.  MAV’s comment was “it took you three days to cook this!”  He just doesn’t get the joy in it…….

Dessert was another recipe I wanted to revisit.  The last time I did a clafoutis I thought I would be smart and cook it ahead and it ended up like leather.   With figs and raspberries in season at present this was a no brainer.  It is certainly easy and once the ingredients for the custardy base are blended I just popped the whole thing in the dish and in the oven while we ate the main course.  By cooking just before serving, it gave a much softer texture and with the mixture of the two very different fruits there was an almost sweet mixed with tangy flavour to it.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it and it received 9/10.

So would I do the duck ragu again?  Mmmm, probably not – a lot of work for a moderate flavour experience and I have done many a ragu that offer up a greater depth of flavour.  Having said that, it was great to try cooking duck again and it probably won’t be the last time I do but just not this particular recipe.

Until next week loverlies.

From my table to yours with love. x