Duck ragu

[Aretina]

Hi

Echo about making the day before, essential for any strong/wine/tomato based sauce.
It not only mellows but sweetens.

Last week had great fun making pici (tuscan home made spaghetti - a rough translation) and it was gorgeous.

500 gm oo flour
1 small egg and enough water to make a fairly stiff dough. Knead for a few minutes. Leave to rest for 20. Roll out on a board to about 1 cm thick. Then cut 1 cm strips. What you get are 1 cm. long cuboids.
Now the time consuming bit. With floured hands - hold 1 strip in one hand and then roll with the other and pull at the same time till you get something that looks like 'slightly wavey spaghetti. It feels a bit like spinning wool. You get long, well mostly, strands you cook in plenty of salted water for about 10 mins.

I served this with a really robust fresh tomato sauce, not tinned toms. but using some of the glut from my neighbours orto.

Delicious! Much lighter than I expected.

Violetta, do you have wild juniper bushes nearby you? I noticed some the other day when walking the dog so will collect a few when they are ripe. I have heard that the juniper used for Gordon's gin all comes from Tuscany.

Aretina

[Violetta]

Originally Posted by Aretina

Hi

Violetta, do you have wild juniper bushes nearby you? I noticed some the other day when walking the dog so will collect a few when they are ripe. I have heard that the juniper used for Gordon's gin all comes from Tuscany.

Aretina

We do have wild juniper bushes nearby but I didn't know the Gordon's juniper comes from Tuscany. Somehow doesn't surprise me. Loved the recipe for pici. You're right in that it is fun to make and when I'm rolling I'm always reminded of when I was a child and used to roll strips of plasticene. I love pici, it's real comfort food. V

[Violetta]

Originally Posted by Aretina

Hi

Violetta, do you have wild juniper bushes nearby you? I noticed some the other day when walking the dog so will collect a few when they are ripe. I have heard that the juniper used for Gordon's gin all comes from Tuscany.

Aretina

We do have wild juniper bushes nearby but I didn't know the Gordon's juniper comes from Tuscany. Somehow doesn't surprise me. Loved the recipe for pici. You're right in that it is fun to make and when I'm rolling I'm always reminded of when I was a child and used to roll strips of plasticene. I love pici, it's real comfort food. V

ps: That said, a friend's husband (live in London) reckons Pici is the pasta equivalent of over stretched worms!