Duck Ragu

Duck is one of those things that can feel a little scary to cook but is actually super delicious. And its higher fat content makes it much less easy to dry out. So it’s actually easier to cook than chicken.

NOTE: This recipes serves 3-4 but the leftovers are so good, I wouldn’t bother halving the recipe. If you’re serving the ragu with pasta it will feed 4 but if you decide to go with the kale ‘linguine’ it will only serve 3.

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Duck Ragu

Total Time 2 hours hours

Servings 3 hungry people

Ingredients

• 4 duck marylands drumsticks with thighs attached
• 2 onions sliced
• 1 can tomatoes
• few tablespoons water
• 3 sprigs thyme
• parmesan to serve

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 180C (350F).
• Place duck, onion, tomatoes, water and thyme in an oven proof pot. Cover and cook for 90 minutes.
• Remove the meat from the bones and tear into bite sized chunks. Return the meat to the pot and stir into the sauce. Taste, season and serve with parmesan shaved or grated.

Variations

vegetarian – make a chickpea ragu by replacing duck with 2 drained cans of chickpeas. Reduce cooking time to 30-45 minutes. You could also replace the duck with mushrooms (make sure you adjust the cooking time).

vegan – as above and serve with a little nutritional yeast instead of the parmesan.

different meat – chicken drumsticks or marylands or thighs on the bone are good. You could also use lamb shanks or osso buco but these will need cooking for longer – around 4 hours.

onion-free – just skip it.

carb lovers / more substantial – serve with cooked Linguine, other pasta or polenta.

short on time – make this quick pork ragu instead.

paleo (grain, legume & dairy-free) – replace parmesan with grated brazil nuts.

Waste Avoidance Strategy

duck – freeze.

onions, tomatoes – pantry.

thyme – keeps for ages in a plastic bag in the fridge or even longer in the freezer.

parmesan – keeps for months in an airtight container or plastic bag in the fridge.