Noodles with Duck Sauce (Veneto)

Pasta

Ingredients

Dough:

All purpose flour- 6 cups

Eggs- 3

Salt

Melted Butter- 4 tbsps

Duck- 1 large

Onion, quartered- 1

Carrots, sliced - 2

Celery, chopped- 1 stalk

Grated Parmesan cheese, to garnish- 3/4 cup

Sauce:

Duck giblets

Butter- 4 tbsps

Sage, chopped- 1 sprig

Salt and pepper

To make these noodles. which are like spaghetti without holes, a special instrument called a bigolaro is necessary and most people outside of Italy will resort to commercially made noodles.

Dough: Sift the flour onto a pastry bowl. Make a well in the middle and drop the eggs in one by one. Add a pinch of salt, the melted butter and about 2/3 cup of milk. Work to a firm, smooth dough, adding more as required. An exact quantity of milk can not be given as eggs vary in size and flour in quality. When the dough is pliable, cut it into small stick shapes and press them through the bigolaro.

Clean the duck, reserving its giblets. Put it in a large pan with the onion, carrots, celery, plenty of water and salt to taste. Bring to a boil slowly, lower the heat to moderate and cook, covered, until the duck is tender, about 1 1/2 hours, depending on size and age. Take the duck from the pan and keep hot in a warm oven. Strain the stock. Return it to the pan, bring to the boil again, add the noodles and boil rapidly until tender but firm. They will take only a minute or two if freshly made.

Sauce:

While the noodles are cooking, chop the giblets finely. Melt the butter and add the sage, giblets and a pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer gently until the giblets are cooked.

Drain the noodles and turn them into a deep heated dish. Cover with the sage and giblet sauce, and stir lightly but carefully. Serve the noodles as a first course, garnished with parmesan cheese, followed by the duck as the main course, accompanied by Venetian Savory Sauce.

Serves 4 to 6