Michie Feast – Pasta Course
The idea for this cours started as gnocchi, then changed to ravioli with duck bolognese, and finally settled on a duck confit ravioli with a port sauce. I have never made my own pasta, or duck confit so I’m not sure what I was thinking!
I shopped for the duck in Austin before I headed to the parent’s house. I was surprised that duck was $16/lb, I guess I am cheap but I decided right there to cut the duck in the recipe from four pounds down to one pound. Since the idea was to serve very small portions, like a tasting menu, I knew I would only use a fraction of what the recipe would yield anyways.
Thanks to Paul, my duck confit was cooked to perfection. Starting almost 48 hours in advance, the duck was first brined for 24 hours, then cooked for 10 hours on a very low temperature. When it was finished the duck fell apart, it was fall off the bone tender and moist. This eventually got mixed in with the ricotta and parmesan to create the filling for the ravioli.
Pasta making is a big mess, for me at least. I had fun building the flour dome and cracking the eggs into the center. But then the walls of the flour dam broke and the eggs started overflowing and seeping out from underneath. I kept trying to add more flour to the outside of my “volcano” but I think I was just making a bigger mess. Eventually I learned the method and ended up with a nice ball of dough.
Duck Confit
Ingredients
- 4 lbs of duck meat skin on, or 6 duck legs ( I cut this down to 1lb)
- tub of duck fat
- salt
- nutmeg
- garlic
- clove crushed
- Ravioli Filling:
- 1/2 lb fresh ricotta cheese
- 1/2 lb of grated Parmesan cheese
- Hand shredded duck confit
- Egg Pasta:
- 1 lb of flour double 0 or any flour with low gluten content
- 1 lb 12 oz of Semolina Flour
- 12 whole eggs AA size
- 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp salt
Instructions
- Duck: Salt the duck liberally, dash of nutmeg, garlic, and crushed clove. Cover and put in fridge for 24 hours. Rinse salt off and place in bowl of melted duck fat. Turn oven to 200 degrees and bake for 10 hours or until falls apart. Use right away or keep fully submerged in fat for up to 2 months.
- Pull the meat with your hand and try to break the bigger pieces until all the meat looks the same, add the ricotta and the Parmesan and mix well, let this cool down in the refrigerator.
- For the pasta: Pour all the flour mix together on surface (table or marble block) in a cone-shaped mountain. Break the eggs into the centre of the cone and blend the yolks with the whites. Add the oil and the salt and mix well (using a fork or fingers), then begin gradually mixing the egg and oil compost with the flour. When the dough has a thick texture, so that it is no longer possible to use a fork, the egg will no longer be liquid and about 1/2 of the flour will be incorporated. Continue to work with your hands, pushing the dough up from all sides, taking in as much flour as possible; keep on kneading for about 15 mins. At this point almost all the flour should be incorporated; remember that the amount of flour can change little bit in proportion to how big the eggs are. At this point let the pasta rest for half hour; cut the pasta in 8 to 10 equal pieces and dust a little bit with some regular flour. Roll out the dough thinly and cut into squares about 3 x 3 inches. I used the Kitchen Aid attachment to roll into sheets, then a round ravioli . Place a tablespoon of the filling in the centre of each square. Use a little egg around the edge fo the bottom piece before adding top circle. Press together and use ravioli cutter to cut and press edges. If you see that the pasta is little bit too dry and doesn’t stick together, you can use little bit of water as glue.
- Cook the ravioli in salted water. When the water is boiling lower the heat (if it's boiling too much you could break the pasta) take them out once they float (4/6 minutes) and put them on a serving plate, then coat with the sauce, finish with some flakes of shaved Parmesan.
Port Wine Sauce with Sun-Dried Cherries
Ingredients
- 1 oz butter
- 2 tbs shallots minced
- 1 tsp black peppercorn cracked
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 3/4 cup port wine
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 1.5 oz Poultry Demi-Glace Gold Or Veggie
- 1/2 cup water hot
- 1/2 cup sun-dried cherries
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Sauté shallots, peppercorn, thyme, and bay leaf in butter for 1–2 minutes or until shallots are translucent.
- Add port and red wine and reduce by half. Add demi-glace and whisk until dissolved.
- Add enough water to reach desired sauce thickness. Strain the sauce and return to the pan.
- Add sun-dried cherries and cream (and stir in additional butter, if desired) and return to a simmer while whisking. Serve with roasted turkey, chicken, or other poultry.
4 Comments
Drick
December 10, 2009 at 8:46 pmgreat to have passed along your talent – great recipe and well done…tell her thanks…
barry
December 10, 2009 at 11:09 pmnice one.. i like the idea of the duck confit with mozzarella and the sauce sounds great… I just wish you guys in America would think of yr. european counterparts and put the grammage ( in brackets) its a real hassle going to a converter and sometimes not worth the hassle
cmiranda
December 11, 2009 at 2:54 pmI agree, this dish sounds like a lot of hard work but definately worth the effort.The result looks absolutely delicious.
Monkey
December 15, 2009 at 8:19 pmI stopped by to look at your salmon en croute, and couldn’t help but go exploring… This looks awesome!