Tonight we had an ambitious main course: duck ragu.  We served it with fresh pasta and an arugula, proscuitto, goat cheese and pine nut salad.  For extra flavor, we sauteed the pine nuts in the duck fat.  Making the duck ragu was A LOT of work.  First we had to get the skin and fat off the duck legs and thighs.  That took almost an hour.  Then we had to brown the duck, take the duck out of the pan, cook the other ingredients, add the duck back, cook for an hour, take the duck out AGAIN and remove the duck from the bones, add the duck back to the pan and cook some more (see below for photos of all the steps).  The end result was worth it.  Dad said it was one of the best meals we’d made.  For dessert we had chocolate chip cookie bars.  They are like chocolate chip cookies but they hold up better, especially if you pack them in lunches.  Just don’t leave them on your kitchen counter too long because they might disappear (like some of ours did)…

The full meal: duck ragu with fresh pasta; arugula, proscuitto, goat cheese and pine nut salad 

The arugula, goat cheese, proscuitto, pine nut salad

Ingredients for duck ragu (including dried porcini mushrooms)

Cutting the fat off the dug legs and thighs (with our new kitchen shears)

Finally most of the fat is gone from the duck

Browning the duck

After removing the duck, sauteeing onions, carrots and garlic

Adding more ingredients: tomatoes, red wine, chicken broth and dried porcini mushrooms

Now we add the duck back in.

After you add the duck back in to mix and let simmer, you have to take it out again, let cool and pull the duck off the bone…once you add that back in, and let cook some more, you finally have Duck Ragu!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars…putting them on the counter before dinner was a mistake (somebody snacked on them).