Venetian Duck Ragu

Serves 4

Ingredients

Gently fry off in a deep casserole dish with a tiny bit of oil (just enough so it doesn’t catch. Fry both sides for 2 - 3 mins to release fat and put to one side
cook off finely diced onion, carrot and celery until soft in the same pan with the fat from the duck
Chuck in some garlic and then add ~ 100 ml wine per person and half a tin of chopped tomatoes per person
Cook down for a few min then add ~ a tablespoon per person of sugar and cinnamon powder (yep be liberal) and some thyme
Add a chicken stock cube / pot and put the duck back in. Then top up with water until the duck is well covered
At this point I usually put in in the oven at 150 for a good 2 - 3 hours (keep an eye on it so it doesn’t reduce too much and top up with water if needed).
You can leave on a low heat on the hob for an hour instead but the duck isn’t as soft that way
Remove from the oven and remove the duck legs - take skin away and shred the meat.
Let the sauce sit for a bit and the fat will float to the surface, at which point I tend to skim off the excess
Then cook on the hob until it’s reduced to your preferred consistency (if you like it thick you can help by adding a tablespoon for flour when frying off the veg)
Add the shredded duck and heat through + salt & pepper to taste
mix in with cooked pasta (I recommend rigatoni)
Then serve with lashings of parmesan on top - it’s needed to offset the sweetness so be liberal