Bigoli Con L'anatra (Pasta with Duck Sauce)

Bigoli with Duck Sauce is my 8-year old son's favorite dish here.  Bigoli just describes the pasta shape; it's like a large spaghetti.  The noodles are usually made with egg and hearty and chewy. The Bigoli combined with the duck sauce is a specialty of this region of Northern Italy that I live in.  It's at almost every restaurant, and was also featured on the menu of our local villages's Sagra, or town festival.  We tried it there and it was delicious!  When we first got here and were in a hotel, my son ordered either this, pizza, or penne with pesto pretty much every time we went out to eat.  :)

The sauce is onion, carrot, and garlic sauteed together in butter and olive oil, then cooking the duck, then red wine is added and reduced, and then you add some cream.  I don't drink wine, but felt that leaving it out of this dish would make it taste totally different, as it really adds a lot of the flavor.  Our neighbor/realtor showed us a wine store in our town.  I had asked Chef Lucas exactly what kind of wine I needed for this, so once I had the name, it was easy to find.  It's a locally produced red wine, Valpolicella Ripasso.  I was also able to find duck in my local grocery store; they even ground it fresh for me (ground duck is macinato d'anatra).  This dish tasted just as good as the restaurants here, and my son was very happy.  The first time I made it, I didn't reduce the broth, and it was soupy.  The next time, I did reduce it, and it was so much better.  The sauce isn't very saucy, but it's perfect on the pasta.

Valpolicella Ripasso wine and Ground duck 

I've been to two of Lucas's cooking classes, but not a class for this recipe.   I just went to one last Monday and we made authentic Lasagna, fried calzones, and chocolate salami.  He has so many recipes on his website; I want to try them all!

Bigoli Con L'anatra (Pasta with Duck Sauce)
From Veneto Region of Italy
Adapted from Cooking With Lucas

1 lb bigoli pasta

6-8 oz ground duck meat
1 oz butter

2 Tablespoons Extra virgin Olive oil
1 cup good chicken broth
1/2 one onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
1 carrot, chopped finely
3 ½ oz red wine (Valpolicella Ripasso)
4 tbs of heavy cream
thyme to taste
marjoram to taste
1 bay leaf
Grana Padano to taste (this is a local cheese; Parm-Reg would be good too)
parsley to taste

1.  In a pan, combine the oil and butter, and brown the onions, garlic and carrot, add the duck meat and brown that also. Mix thoroughly.  (May wish to drain off a bit of fat if your duck is fatty). 

2.  Pour the red wine over the mixture, allow to evaporate, and then salt to taste.  Add the broth and cook until broth has reduced to only a few tablespoons.  Can cook this mixture a long time- about an hour, adding more liquid if needed.  Sauce shouldn't be very liquidy. Add the herbs, the bay leaves and finally the cream. In the meantime, cook the pasta in abundant boiling and salted water.

3.  When the pasta is cooked, when it is still “al dente”, drain it, put it in the pan with the sauce and toss it.  If you think it's too much pasta, don't add it to the sauce all at once.  Remove from the heat and sprinkle with freshly grated cheese, finely chopped parsley and arrange on the serving dish.

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