Orecchiette With Spiced Duck Ragù Recipes

ORECCHIETTE WITH SPICED DUCK RAGù

Steps:

• Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle duck with salt and pepper. Add duck to pot and sauté until brown, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer duck to plate. Add basil, garlic, thyme, cinnamon stick, and crushed red pepper to pot; sauté 3 minutes. Return duck to pot. Add tomatoes; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until duck is tender, about 1 hour. Remove cinnamon stick. Transfer duck to work surface. Cut all meat from bones; cut meat into strips. Return meat to pot. Season duck ragù to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cool slightly. Chill uncovered until cold, then cover and keep chilled. Rewarm over medium heat before serving.)
• Cook orecchiette in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain pasta. Return to pot. Add duck ragù, arugula, and Parmesan; toss to blend. Divide pasta among small bowls. Sprinkle with feta cheese.

ORECCHIETTE AL RAGU DI BRACIOLE (PASTA WITH BEEF RAGU AND BRACIOLE)

Steps:

• Pound the beef cutlets 1/4-inch thin. Add the cheese, parsley and garlic to a small bowl and toss. Divide evenly over each cutlet. Roll up each cutlet and tie with butcher's twine to secure and to make a roll. Sprinkle each roll with salt and pepper.
• Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the beef rolls and the cubed beef and brown on all sides. Remove to a plate once browned. Add a touch more olive oil to the pan and add the carrots and onions and saute until tender. Add the wine and simmer for a minute or so, and then scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Stir in the passata and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer, add the beef back into the pot and cover with a lid. Cook on low until thick and the meat begins to fall apart, flipping the rolls occasionally, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. (If too dry, add a half cup of water; if too loose, remove the lid to finish thickening).
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the orecchiette, cook until al dente and drain.
• Remove the bay leaves and discard from the sauce. Carefully remove the braciole to a cutting board and cut off the butcher's twine. Slice the beef rolls into rounds. Add the pasta to the sauce and toss all together. Serve on a large platter and top with the braciole rounds and sprinkle with lots of pecorino cheese.

DUCK RAGU

Steps:

• Finely chopped fresh parsley, for servingHeat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet or Dutch oven.
• Sprinkle the duck legs with salt and pepper. Sear in the hot pan until golden brown and crisp, 10 minutes. Remove to a plate.
• Add the carrots, celery and onions, and saute until soft, 3 minutes. Add the thyme and garlic, and saute until fragrant, 1 minute.
• Add the red wine. Use the back of a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits from the duck; this will add to the flavor of the finished sauce. Cook for 2 minutes, then stir in the tomatoes, some salt and pepper and bring to a gentle simmer. Add the seared duck back to the pan and cover. Simmer gently until the duck is extremely tender and falling off the bone, 1 hour and 30 minutes.
• Remove to a casserole dish to cool. Remove the skin and bones and discard. Chop the meat finely and add it back into the tomato sauce, adding a half a cup of water if it looks dry, and simmer, covered for 40 minutes.
• Serve over Homemade Pappardelle. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil serve with freshly grated Parmesan and parsley.
• Add the flour and salt to the center of a large wooden board. Use your hands and make a well in the center of the mound. Whisk together the eggs and olive oil in a bowl and pour into the well. Use a fork to whisk the eggs into the flour, incorporating slowly into the rim of the flour until it is completely incorporated.
• Once incorporated, knead the pasta for about 8 minutes, adding just a bit more flour if the board is sticky. If the dough feels too dry, add a drop of water as you go. The dough should feel elastic, smooth and a bit sticky. Shape the pasta dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Let rest for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour at room temperature to let the gluten relax so rolling will be easier.
• Set your pasta machine to the widest setting. Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece out from the widest setting to the thinnest. Hand cut the pasta into pappardelle.
• Gather the strands together in your hands and shake loosely so they don't stick together. Toss with some semolina flour. Divide into portions on a sheet tray.
• Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Boil the pasta until al dente and drain, about 3 minutes. Yield: About 1 pound.

GREAT SOUTH BAY DUCK RAGù

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350. Trim excess skin from duck legs and discard.
• Heat a Dutch oven with a tightly fitting lid over medium heat. Add olive oil to the pot, and when it begins to shimmer, add the duck legs, skin side down. Cook until the skin is well browned and the fat has begun to render, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Turn the legs over and brown the other sides, 5 to 10 minutes more. Remove to a plate to rest.
• Add the celery, carrots, onion and garlic to the pot, and stir to combine. Cook until the onions have softened and have just started to color, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Clear a space in the center of the pot and add the anchovies, then swirl them in fat until they begin to dissolve. Stir to combine. Add juniper berries, wine, vinegar and duck legs, and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, approximately 15 minutes.
• Add tomato paste and stir to combine, then enough chicken stock so that the combination takes on a sauce-like consistency and just covers the duck. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Put a lid onto the pot and place in the oven. Cook for 90 minutes, or until the legs are almost falling off the bone.
• Remove duck from pot and allow to cool slightly. Peel off skin, dice and reserve. Shred meat off bones and return to pot. Place pot on stove top over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Add duck skin to taste, sage and salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Serve over polenta.

ORECCHIETTE WITH RABBIT RAGù

Steps:

• Pat rabbit dry and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Heat 1/4 cup oil in a deep 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown rabbit in 2 batches, turning over once, about 7 minutes per batch. Transfer to a platter, reserving fat in skillet.
• Add remaining 3 tablespoons oil to fat in skillet and heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté onion, carrot, celery, garlic, bay leaves, rosemary, and 1/4 teaspoon salt, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Add wine and boil, stirring and scraping up any brown bits, until most of liquid is evaporated, about 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, broth, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Return rabbit along with any juices accumulated on platter to skillet and nestle rabbit into sauce. Cover skillet and simmer, stirring and turning rabbit over occasionally, until both saddle pieces are tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer saddle pieces to a plate, then continue to simmer leg pieces 10 minutes more.
• Remove from heat and transfer remaining rabbit pieces to plate. When cool enough to handle, remove meat from bones, discarding bones and gristle, and shred. Return meat along with any juices to sauce in skillet, then add remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and bring sauce to a boil. Discard bay leaves.
• Meanwhile, cook pasta in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water, uncovered, until al dente. Drain in a colander.
• Transfer pasta to a large serving dish and top with sauce, stirring to combine.

ORECCHIETTE WITH PORK RAGù

Steps:

• 1 Prepare ragù and dough. Have ready 2 large baking sheets dusted with flour. Cut the dough into 1/2-inch pieces. Hold a small knife with a dull blade and rounded tip with your index finger pressed against the blade of the knife. Flatten each piece of dough with the tip of the knife, pressing and dragging it slightly so that the dough forms a disk. Invert each disk over the tip of your thumb creating a dome shape. 2 Spread the pieces on the prepared pans. Repeat with the remaining dough. (If you are not using the orecchiette within 1 hour, place the pans in the freezer. When the pieces are firm, scoop them into a plastic bag and seal tightly. Do not thaw before cooking.) 3 Bring at least 4 quarts of water to a boil. Add the pasta and salt to taste. Stir well. Cook over high heat, stirring frequently, until the pasta is al dente, tender yet still firm to the bite. Drain the pasta, reserving some of the cooking water. 4 Add the pasta to the ragù. Add the cheese and stir well, adding some of the reserved cooking water, if the sauce seems too thick. Serve immediately. From "1,000 Italian Recipes." Copyright 2004 by Michele Scicolone. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

ONE PAN ORECCHIETTE PASTA

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir onion with a pinch of salt in hot oil until onion is soft and golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir sausage into onions; cook and stir until sausage is broken up and browned, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Pour 1 1/2 cups chicken broth into sausage mixture and bring to a boil while scraping the browned bits of food off of the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add orecchiette pasta; cook and stir pasta in hot broth, adding remaining broth when liquid is absorbed, until pasta is cooked through and most of the broth is absorbed, about 15 minutes.
• Stir arugula into pasta-sausage mixture until arugula wilts. Ladle pasta into bowls and dust with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.