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Pasta with Slow Roasted Duck

Pasta with Slow Roasted Duck

Guest contributor Hank Shaw of Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook shares one of his favorite pasta dishes. Sensuous and savory, this simple pasta and duck recipe is perfect for a romantic dinner. ~Elise

This is one of my favorite things to do with duck confit or the easier, slow-roasted duck version of it. This is a sumptuous pasta dish that has its origins in old Venice, where it was done with the Italian version of preserved duck. Despite this, it is an easy dish to make – the only tricky part is getting the garlic browned but not burned.

Traditionally this is served with tagliatelle, a long, flat pasta both wider and thinner than the more familiar linguine. Could you use another shape? You bet. Don’t go too thin or too thick – angel hair or ziti aren’t right for this dish.

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Pasta with Slow Roasted Duck Recipe

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 10 minutes

Make sure you’ve got everything ready before you start, as this dish comes together fast. Have the water boiling, and give it plenty of salt; you want it to taste of the sea. If you do this right, both the sauce and the pasta will be done at the same time.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound tagliatelle
  • 1 or 2 slow-roasted duck legs*
  • 4 finely chopped garlic cloves
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1-2 tablespoons duck fat
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Lemon zest
  • 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice

*To slow roast raw duck legs, first pat them dry. Prick skin all over with needle to help render out fat. Salt all over generously. Place skin side up in a 300°F oven in a casserole dish just small enough to fit them without overlapping. Cook for about 90 minutes or until the skin starts pulling away from the bones and getting crispy. Turn up the heat to 375°F for 15 minutes until duck starts to get light golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes.

Method

1 Pick all the meat off the duck legs and reserve the skin. Tear the meat and skin into smallish pieces.

2 Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add the butter and duck fat and the duck meat and skin. Turn the heat down to medium.

3 Put the pasta in the boiling water. Stir it from time to time.

4 Add the garlic to the sauté pan and mix well. Watch the garlic: The moment it begins to brown turn off the heat.

5 Drain the pasta when it is al dente, or use tongs to take it from the boiling water right into the sauté pan. Turn the heat back on to medium. Toss the pasta in the sauté pan, making sure it is all coated well. Add more duck fat if needed. Add some black pepper and 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and toss again. Taste and add the second tablespoon of lemon juice if you want.

Serve immediately with the lemon zest sprinkled on top.

Yield: Serves 4.

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12 Comments

Love duck but have a hard time finding it in the grocery store. I think I'm just going to have to look harder!

A lot of grocery stores have whole frozen ducks in the freezer section, and several online purveyors, such as D'Artagnan, sell duck legs online. ~Hank

Posted by: Renee on February 10, 2010 6:36 AM

This was damn good food. Easy to prepare, requiring only a bit of patience to wait for the duck to confit. One of the best meals I had in a long time.

Posted by: Garrett on February 10, 2010 7:12 AM

That looks amazing..I'm always looking for ideas for game - my boyfriend keeps me well stocked with duck & it can be difficult to cook well. Thanks for the recipe - I'll try it this weekend for Valentines!

Rocky Mountain Woman

If you are using wild duck or goose legs, you will need more of them. I go with at least 4 mallard legs per person, and 2 goose legs. ~Hank

Posted by: Rocky Mountain Woman on February 10, 2010 8:07 AM

Duck and pasta go beautifully together- it is such a heart, warm winter meal. One of my favorite pastas with duck also has dried cherries! Cannot wait to try this recipe.

Posted by: Georgia.Pellegrini on February 10, 2010 12:54 PM

I'm going to make this tomorrow for lunch for some friends. wish me luck! (for I have never cooked duck before... ever!) any idea as to what to serve it together with?

I think you'll find it's a meal in itself. ~Elise

Posted by: tao on February 12, 2010 8:59 AM

Made this last night using duck confit. Stunning. After browning the duck and removing skin and meat, I returned the small pieces of skin to the pan to crisp them up. Then added the garlic, Getting the garlic right was no problem. The returned to meat to the pan while the pasta was finishing. Barely coated the pasta with duck fat, about the same as if it were butter. Okay, maybe a bit more. ;-)

Posted by: Peter on February 13, 2010 3:34 AM

Hmmmmmm. We roasted a duck two nights ago, because I was inspired. For me, this is a special (although regular) bird for the holidays. For my boyfriend, it was a first time experience. Another addict is born.

Today, using your inspiration, I combined hand made (not by me) wild mushroom linguine, duck breast, duck fat, butter, 2 smashed/minced garlic. Was too impatient to put the lemon in, though it sounds soooo good.

Divine. Thank you.

Posted by: Jacquie on February 19, 2010 8:41 AM

Incredibly delicious. I added a tiny bit of black truffle oil. Wow!

Posted by: Chef Jeff on March 1, 2010 9:28 PM

Do you think if i used the chinese roasted duck in place of the roasted duck it would work?

It would taste very different from my recipe, but it sounds like it would still be tasty! ~Hank

Posted by: Mari on October 2, 2010 9:00 PM

Wow. Just wow. Made this with some duck confit for a first course of christmas dinner. Absolutely amazing. Rich and sumptious, yet incredibly bright and not at all heavy. Thanks so much!

Posted by: Remy on December 25, 2010 8:48 PM

Great recipe, made it last night and everyone loved it, especially my 10 year old daughter.

I fried the duck skin first to make sure it was crisp and then added the meat.

But I do have one question, did you forget an ingredient?

It appears from the photo of the pasta dish has rosemary and the google search also lists rosemary. Thanks.

Rosemary is always a good idea in a dish like this - it cuts the fat, and if you wanted to add some, I'd say a heaping teaspoon of chopped fresh would do it. But no, I did not design the recipe with rosemary in mind. ~Hank

Posted by: Taras on March 28, 2011 7:28 AM

I have a whole duck in the fridge that is waiting to get my hands on. I was thinking to roast it whole, but also want to make your super delish looking pasta with duck. Do you think it will work with the shredded meat from the roasted duck or should I cut up the leg part, make a confit out of it, then roast the not-so-whole duck anymore?

It will work with the shredded meat from the roast duck, but it will not really be the same. ~Hank

Posted by: yeni on August 8, 2011 8:47 PM

I apologize for the inconvenience, comments are closed. ~Elise

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