Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 90 minutes
Ingredients:
- A young duck
- 1 pound (400 g) bigoli, ideally home made with a press, though bucatini will work as a substitute
- 3/8 cup (80 g) unsalted butter
- Sage
- A large rib celery
- A large carrot, peeled
- A large onion, split in half
- 2 cloves
- Garlic
- A bay leaf
- A small bunch parsley
- 4 tabelspoons grated Parmigiano
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
If you caught the duck yourself, pluck it and dress it, keeping the liver and gizzard. If you bought it, wash it well inside and out, and clean the liver, gizzard, and heart. Flame it to remove any stray pinfeathers.In the meantime, put a pot with abundant lightly salted water on the stove, and add the carrot, the onion, stuck with the cloves, the celery, a few sprigs of parsley, a small bay leaf, and a large clove of garlic. As soon as the water comes to a boil add the duck, together with the liver, gizzard, and heart, and simmer, partially covered, for at least an hour.
Use a strainer to remove the duck and its organs from the broth; keep the duck warm. Mince the organs, and sauté them briefly in a little butter, with a few leaves of sage; season the mixture to taste with salt and pepper.
Cook the bigoli in the duck broth, and drain them when they reach the al dente stage; turn them out into a heated serving bowl when they're still dripping, and season them with the liver mixture and the grated cheese. Serve at once, and follow the bigoli with the boiled duck, as a second course.
Note: You'll likely want several sauces to go with the duck, for example mayonnaise, mustard, mostarda or pearà. In terms of vegetables, I might go with boiled vegetables -- potatoes, carrots, beets, string beans, and so on.
A wine? Red, Merlot dei Berici.
