Author Notes
I made a super simple homemade pasta with fresh sage, filled with ricotta, chopped walnuts, some lemon zest, parmigiano reggiano and topped it with shredded duck breast oven roasted with sage, carrots, shallots and garlic. It's earthy, rustic and delicious. The pasta dough is so easy to make, i didn't use my food processor and made it by hand the way my Mother told me she did it. The dough is a dream to work with, I made the dough sheets with my pasta machine so I could roll the dough very thin. If you don't have, or don't want to use duck, chicken is fine or you could keep it meat free by topping with a brown butter sage sauce.
NOTE: If you have a favorite pasta recipe by all means use it. —sdebrango
Ingredients
- The Duck and Pasta
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2
duck breasts
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1
large carrot peeled and chopped
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2
shallot chopped
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2 teaspoons
dried sage
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1
small lemon (I used a meyer lemon)
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2
cloves garlic peeled and left whole
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salt and pepper to taste
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The Pasta
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3
extra large eggs (if you have large eggs use 4)
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2 teaspoons
olive oil
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pinch of salt
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4-6
fresh sage leaves chopped (depending on the size large leaves use 4 smaller 6)
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2 1/2 cups
all purpose flour
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1 tablespoon
water
- Making the ravioli, filling and shredded duck sauce
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1/2 cup
ricotta
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1
egg beaten
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1/2 cup
toasted walnuts chopped finely
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2 tablespoons
chopped parsley
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1/4 cup
parmigiano reggiano grated
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1/4 teaspoon
lemon zest
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salt and pepper to taste
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1/4 cup
white wine
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shredded duck meat and roasted vegetables
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1 tablespoon
Unsalted butter
Directions
- The Duck and Pasta
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Heat oven to 375, clean and pat dry the duck breasts, score the skin to the fat don't cut the meat, sprinkle each breast on both sides with salt, pepper, and sage. In small roasting pan make a bed of carrots, shallots and garlic and lay the duck breasts on top of it skin side up, quarter the lemon squeeze some of the juice on the duck and place the quarters around the duck. Cover with foil and roast for 45-50 minutes, if the duck breasts are large it may take an hour or bit longer to roast. I was not looking for crisp duck skin rather tender moist duck meat, and caramelization of the vegetables. Remove from oven and set aside to cool so it can be shredded.
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In bowl of your food processor add the flour, eggs, olive oil, water and salt. Pulse until it forms a cohesive ball. Dump onto floured work surface and knead until its smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.
If you are not using a food processor dump the flour onto your work surface, make a well in the middle and add the eggs, oil, water and salt, beat the eggs and start incorporating the flour in a circular motion until you have a cohesive ball, knead until smooth, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes
- Making the ravioli, filling and shredded duck sauce
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In small bowl beat the egg, add the walnuts, parsley, grated cheese and lemon zest and stir to combine, add the ricotta and mix together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. NOTE: It's not absolutely necessary but you can strain the ricotta in cheese cloth to remove some of the liquid, If using homemade ricotta you have probably already done that but if you use store bought ricotta you could strain it, but it's not essential to the recipe.
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Cut the pasta dough into quarters, cover the dough you are not using with tea towel to keep moist. Use your pasta machine as directed. I roll it starting on first(widest) setting and end with the next to the last notch (#5) on my machine. Using a 3 inch biscuit cutter cut rounds of dough. Place a small amount of ricotta mixture in center, with fingertip wet the edge of the circle and press another round on top. Press to seal and place on sheet pan with floured tea towel keeping it covered while you are working on the other ravioli. After you are done refrigerate covered if you are not going to boil them right away.
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Place large pot of water to boil on high heat.
While your water is heating shred the duck discarding the skin and lemons,pour out most of the fat (I used a fat separator) and keep the brown bits and some of the pan juices and add the white wine and reduce by about 1/4, then add the butter, roasted carrots, shallots and garlic and break up with a fork don't mash. Add the shredded duck and keep warm on low heat.
When water comes to a boil add some salt, add the ravioli and boil for approximately 5 minutes or until ravioli float to the top. Remove the ravioli with strainer. Place ravioli on serving platter top with the shredded duck and vegetables. I garnished with a little chopped parsley.
I have loved to cook for as long as I can remember, am self taught learning as I go. I come from a large Italian family and food was at the center of almost every gathering. My grandfather made his own wine and I remember the barrels of wine in the cellar of my grandfathers home, I watched my mother and aunts making homemade pasta and remember how wonderful it was to sit down to a truly amazing dinner. Cooking for me is a way to express myself its my creative outlet. I enjoy making all types of food but especially enjoy baking,
I live in Brooklyn, NY, and I share my home with my two dogs Izzy and Nando.
I like to collect cookbooks and scour magazines and newspapers for recipes. I hope one day to organize them.
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