Easy duck ragu (in a pressure cooker)

I love duck and duck legs are a nice economical way to eat this extremely rich meat with the added bonus that they are pretty hard to overcook. You can always slow roast them when you’ve got a few hours to spare but when I need a quick meal after getting in from work at 7.30pm and I’m determined to use up the duck legs looking accusingly at me from the fridge, it has to be pressure cooker to the rescue. By 8.30 I managed to have a meal ready that looked like this.

OK, I see that I’ve given myself away. Yes, I genuinely prefer courgetti over actual pasta as it doesn’t make me feel, how shall I put it? Crap, I think is the best way. As a rule, I do try and eat a gluten-free diet and even him indoors is coming round to the idea and he actually loves courgetti! Totally bizarre and unexpected but I’m not complaining. However, if you don’t subscribe to the gluten-free philosophy you can easily eat this with regular pasta (or even mash).

Although from start to finish this meal takes roughly an hour to prepare, the actual process is pretty simple and doesn’t require much more than a bit of stirring and tasting. Without a pressure cooker, the duck needs to first be slow cooked in the oven for up to 2 hours before the ragu can be started but with a pressure cooker, this can be a low-effort mid-week meal.

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Duck leg ragu (in a pressure cooker)

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To sum this recipe up, you cook the duck legs in a pressure cooker until tender, take the meat off the bones and cook down the remaining liquid into a rich sauce.

Servings	Prep Time
2 hungry people	10 minutes

Cook Time

45 minutes

Servings Prep Time 2 hungry people 10 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Duck leg ragu (in a pressure cooker) Print Recipe To sum this recipe up, you cook the duck legs in a pressure cooker until tender, take the meat off the bones and cook down the remaining liquid into a rich sauce. Servings Prep Time 2 hungry people 10 minutes Cook Time 45 minutes Servings Prep Time 2 hungry people 10 minutes Cook Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin preferably
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 2 duck legs skin removed
• 200 ml red wine
• 150 ml tomato passata
• 1 bay leaf
• 100 ml water or chicken stock
• salt & pepper to taste

Servings: hungry people

Instructions

1. Remove skin from duck legs, salt them lightly and set aside. If you don't remove the skin the sauce will be really greasy.
2. Heat the oil in your pressure cooker over medium heat and add the chopped onion. Cook a few minutes until it starts to go translucent.
3. Add garlic and chopped tomatoes. Cook a couple of minutes until tomatoes start to soften then add the duck.
4. Cook another few minutes then add red wine and bring to the boil. Simmer a few minutes until the alcohol smell goes away, then add the passata, bay leaf and water. Stir everything together and close the pressure cooker lid.
5. On a high/medium heat bring to high pressure. Cook at high pressure for 10 minutes then turn off the heat and let the pressure release naturally for 10 more minutes. After that, release the rest of the pressure by opening the release valve.
6. Open the lid and take out the duck to allow it to cool slightly.
7. Continue to simmer the sauce to reduce and intensify it. Add salt if necessary but don't forget that it will become more salty as it reduces.
8. In the meantime, take the meat of the duck legs, shred it into small pieces and return to the pan with the sauce. Continue to simmer until there is only a little bit of sauce and the meat is all broken up. You're aiming for a meat sauce with tomato, NOT a tomato sauce with some meat. This will take around 20-30 minutes depending on how much liquid you have and the level of heat.
9. While the sauce is cooking, prepare the courgetti or pasta, whichever you are using, so they are ready at the same time.
10. Once the liquid has reduced to barely any, remove the bay leaf, adjust the seasoning and serve. I tend to add freshly grated parmesan or manchego cheese even and serve over courgetti (a recipe for which is coming shortly).

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