中文
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • CREDITS
    • RESOURCES
    • Privacy Policy
  • ITALY
  • RECIPES
  • INGREDIENTS
  • EQUIPMENT
  • TECHNIQUE
  • WINE
  • Free Updates
  • BLOG
  • chinese

Living a Life in Colour

a guide to Italian food, wine and culture

Spaghetti bolognese Venetian style

April 25, 2017 By wooweiduan Leave a Comment

It’s somehow always the one thing you can’t have that you desperately want. I remember longing daily for steamy, buttery mashed potatoes while on safari in Africa. I would imagine my daily cornmeal mush was actually potatoes (and I like cornmeal mush). Then there was the time I spent a weekend on a rice boat through the backwaters in India daydreaming of a big, juicy burger. Eating beef in a Hindu country is challenging (and inconsiderate) but as ducks paddled by the boat, I dreamt of duck burgers. I’m not sure what is wrong with me as I could go a year without a burger or mashed potato, but in those moments some part of me realised I couldn’t have them and suddenly a deep longing developed.  

Since my boating days in India, I have taken a keen interest in recipes featuring duck which may normally have used beef. Pasta with duck ragù is one of these (as are the duck burgers which are delicious with hoisin sauce instead of ketchup by the way). If you like duck, have Hindu friends coming around or are in India obsessing over the lack of beef, this recipe is for you. Goose has long been a substitute for pork in Italian Jewish cooking, why not duck for beef? 

Bigoli con anatra (bigoli with duck ragu) – Veneto

Bigoli are a thick spaghetti made with flour, egg and water and pressed through a press called a bigolaro. If bigoli are not available, then tagliatelle and pappardelle are fine substitutes. For step-by-step illustrated instructions, click here.

Bigoli con anitra (bigoli pasta with duck ragu)

Bigoli con anitra (bigoli pasta with duck ragu)

 

320 grams bigoli (can substitute tagliatelle or pappardelle)

1 celery rib, rinsed, ends removed and finely chopped

1 carrot, rinsed, peeled, ends removed and finely chopped

1 shallot or onion, skin and ends removed and finely chopped

1 garlic clove, skin removed 

20 grams butter

1 duck breast, half the fat removed and discarded, the rest finely chopped

1 bay leaf, rinsed

1 clove

1 pinch cinnamon

250 mls red wine

Chicken or meat broth, as needed

30 grams Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, finely grated

Sea salt

Black pepper, freshly ground

In a large pot, bring to boil 5 litres of water with 50 grams of salt. 

In a large sauce pan, add the butter, celery, carrot, shallot and garlic and cook over medium heat, stirring. After about 5 minutes, turn up the heat and add the chopped duck, bay leaf, clove and cinnamon and stir to brown the meat. Add the red wine and reduce the heat to low. Add salt and pepper and cook for 30 minutes, adding broth as necessary. Discard the garlic.

Cook the pasta for the time indicated on the package. Drain the pasta and toss with the sauce. Divide into serving bowls and sprinkle the cheese over top. Add a bit of freshly ground pepper to the top and serve.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe by e-mail. Thanks for visiting!

Filed Under: Food, footer Tagged With: duck, goose, meatsauce, ragu

« What all Italians want you to know
Sicily’s Ionian coast »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Learn how to make Italian recipes for family and friends.

Recipes

Connect

Woo Wei-Duan provides practical instruction on Italian cooking and recipes as well as musings on life and family on this website. Read More…

Contact Us

Learn how to make Italian recipes for family and friends.

Featured posts

Venice flooding in 1966 by By Unknown
Panzarotto (a deep-fried pizza pocket filled with molten mozzarella and tomato sauce)
Creative Commons Licence
Mei Man Ren Sheng by Woo Wei-Duan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.