Duck and Chianti lasagne

We've adapted this from a book called The Complete Cookbook, written/edited (we think!) by Weldon Owen. We've made it a few times now and improved on it slightly each time.

Ingredients (serves 4):

2 duck legs

6 rashers of pancetta

pack of mushrooms, sliced

1 onion, diced

2 leeks, sliced

1 carrot, diced

3 celery sticks, diced

4 large tomatoes, diced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

tbl sp chopped fresh rosemary

tea sp chopped fresh/dried oregano (optional)

tea sp chopped fresh sage (optional)

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of allspice

tin of chopped tomatoes

1/3 bottle of chianti

bechemel sauce

mix of cheddar and parmesan, grated

fresh or dried lasagne sheets

salt and pepper

olive oil

• Cook the duck legs in a pre heated oven until cooked through. We tend to do this the night before. Remove the skin and shred the duck meat. Set the meat aside in the fridge until needed. Save the excess liquid fat for roast potatoes.
• In a little olive oil cook the pancetta, onion, leek, celery and carrot until the pancetta is starting to crisp. Then add the mushrooms and garlic and continue to cook until the mushrooms have softened.
• Now add the fresh tomatoes, herbs, and other seasonings before adding the wine. Let it bubble for a couple of minutes on a high heat and then turn the heat down low and add the chopped tomatoes.
• After another 10 minutes or so add the reserved duck meat and leave to simmer on a low heat for at least an hour. After an hour taste it and adjust the seasoning.
• Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees and start to asemble the lasagne. We find that this works best with a sprinkling of grated cheese between each duck ragu/lasagne sheet layer, but with the bechemel sauce only going on the very top, before being sprinkled with extra cheese.
• Cook for approx 35-40 minutes if you're using dried lasagne sheets and 20-25 minutes if you're using fresh lasagne sheets.

Clams and bacon with wine and parsley

Ingredients:

1 handful of clams per person

2 rashers of streaky bacon per person, chopped

1 clove of garlic, peeled

parsley, chopped

olive oil

white wine (a big glug)

juice of half a lemon

• Heat the olive oil in a frying pan
• Add the whole garlic clove and bacon and cook for 5 minutes
• Add the clams and wine and leave to simmer for 3 minutes or so
• Add the parsley and lemon juice and cook for another minute
• Discard the garlic before serving either on salad as we did, or with crusty bread or spaghetti

Venison sausages braised in red wine

This is the latest dish we've made using the sausages from Alternative Meats. It was based loosely on a Delia recipe and it was really, really good!

Ingredients:
Pack of venison sausages
1 sml pack of diced pancetta/lardons
1 large glass of red wine
150ml beef stock
1 tbl sp redcurrant jelly
Fresh thyme leaves
Bay leaf
1 handful of chestnut mushrooms, sliced
6 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
Black pepper
Olive oil

• Heat a splash of olive oil in a deep, non-stick pan. Brown the sausages in the oil and then remove them from the pan and set aside.
• Fry the shallots, garlic, celery and pancetta until browned. Return the sausages to the pan.
• Add the stock, wine and herbs. Turn the heat down to a low simmer, cover with a lid and leave to cook for about an hour.
• After an hour, add the redcurrant jelly and some black pepper. Remove the lid and allow it to simmer for a further 30 minutes.
• We served ours with mashed potato and braised red cabbage.

Rabbit and rosemary pie

As the weather has been a bit rubbish recently we decided that a pie was in order for a rainy Saturday night in. Apart from a pastry disaster (and a quick trip to Sainsburys for some ready made stuff!) it was pretty easy really.

Ingredients (serves 2):

300g diced wild rabbit (we got ours from Waitrose)
plain flour, for dusting
a couple of rosemary sprigs, finely chopped

tea spoon dried thyme

4 shallots, diced

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/2 pack chestnut mushrooms, sliced

2 slices of pancetta, diced

1 bay leaf

1/2 tea spoon dijon mustard

200ml chicken stock

200ml white wine

pastry (puff or shortcrust)
olive oil

egg

1. Pre heat the oven to approx 150 degrees.


2. Dust the rabbit with flour, salt and pepper, and brown in a hot pan, then set aside.


3. Fry the shallots, garlic, pancetta and mushrooms until soft, add the browned rabbit meat.


4. Add the herbs and bay leaf, followed by the stock, wine and mustard. Cook on a high heat for a few minutes to cook off some of the alcohol.
   
5. Transfer the rabbit mixture into an oven proof dish, cook in a low oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally. The liquid content should have reduced by 1/2 to 3/4. Turn the oven up to 200 degrees once you've taken the filling out.
   
6. Prepare the pastry (we won't give suggestions here after our dreadful attempt!).


7. Transfer the filling into a pie dish and top with pastry. Egg wash the pastry top and put in the hot oven for approx 30 minutes.

We didn't feel that it needed extra gravy but you could have some if you wanted. The pie was very rich and full of flavour, so we had it with plain boiled new potatoes and steamed asparagus.