Duck Pasta

4.88 from 25 votes

This duck pasta dish is sure to please even the most discerning palate. Tender pieces of duck get cooked in a savory sauce and served over a bed of pasta, resulting in a dish that is rich, flavorful, and elegant.

Prep Time15

Cook Time15

Total Time30

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Duck Pasta, pasta with leftover duck

Servings: Servings

Author: Pat Nyswonger

Ingredients

For the Duck:

2 cooked duck legs or any leftover duck meat
1 tablespoon olive oil

For the Pasta

6 ounces dry tagliatelle pasta fettuccine or linguine
Salt

For the Sauce:

2 tablespoons duck fat
2 medium shallots chopped
3 garlic cloves grated or minced
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken broth or duck broth
½ cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper
½ lemon
Lemon zest
curly leaf parsley

Instructions

If using sous vide duck, strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve and reserve the broth. If you are starting with leftover duck meat and you don't have extra duck broth, you can use store-bought duck or chicken broth.
Pat the moisture from the duck legs, brush lightly with oil.
Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and place the duck legs skin side down and cook until the skin is crispy about 5 minutes. Flip over and brown lightly. Remove from the skillet, transfer to a cutting board and when cool enough to handle, remove the crispy skin, chop it and set aside. Strip the meat from the bones, and cut it and the meat into bite-size pieces. Reserve the meat and skin.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, add the duck fat to the skillet set over medium heat. When the fat is melted, sauté the shallots until softened then add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
Pour in the wine and cook for 1 minute to burn off the alcohol. Pour in the reserved duck broth (or chicken broth) and the cream. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently, until the sauce is reduced and slightly thickened, about 8-10 minutes. Stir in the butter.
Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper accordingly. Stir in the reserved duck meat and squeeze the juice from the ½ lemon over the meat.
Drain the pasta and add to the skillet tossing until coated with the sauce.
Divide into pasta bowls and garnish with lemon zest, the crispy skin and chopped parsley.

Notes

Frozen duck legs confit and duck meat products can be purchased in the frozen meats section of most major grocery stores. You can also use a sous vide immersion cooker to prepare confit-style duck legs.
If you are starting with leftover duck meat that does not have any extra fat, you may want to use some additional store-bought duck fat for extra flavor.

If you have previously prepared sous vide duck legs and froze them in their broth, thaw them overnight in the refrigerator.
Save every drop of the duck broth and fat as it is full of flavor. If there is less than 1 cup of broth, add chicken broth or water.
Fettuccini, linguine, spaghetti, or any long-strand pasta can be used in this dish. When you cook the pasta, make sure you liberally salt the water. Use at least 1 tablespoon of salt for every 2 quarts of water.
If you would like the sauce thicker, you can make a cornstarch slurry using 1 tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon of water. Whisk that mixture into the sauce.
The crispy skin garnish is optional.

Nutrition