Name: Sugo d’anatra (Duck Sauce)
Yield: Serves 4 to 6
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: 1 pound fresh or dried bigoli or other whole-wheat pasta or gnocchi, cooked; 1 duck, about 5 pounds, cut into 8 pieces and most of the skin removed or boned and skinned and the meat cut into small pieces; 2 bay leaves; 3 cloves garlic, minced; ¼ cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley; 3 cups dry white wine; 3 whole cloves; 4 fresh sage leaves; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; 2 cups poultry stock, or as needed; 1 cup tomato sauce (optional); ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste (optional); 1 celery stalk, chopped; Grated Parmesan or grana padano cheese; 2 tablespoons olive oil or unsalted butter; 1 large yellow onion, chopped; 1 carrot, peeled and chopped

Preparation info

Serves
4 to 6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Italian Slow and Savory

By Joyce Goldstein

Published 2004

About

This sauce of duck and aromatic vegetables is a specialty of the Veneto. In Vicenza, it is tossed with bigoli, a thick whole-wheat noodle that is extruded though a pasta machine called a bigolaro. In Venice, the same sauce, augmented with tomatoes, is served over gnocchi. No one will stop you from putting it over fettuccine, but the noodle is not typical of the Veneto. Its use depends on how much of a purist you want to be. :: Traditionally, the duck is skinned and boned, and