stuffed courgettes with gressingham duck ragu

... as I said when I slow roasted duck last week, i've always wanted to make duck ragu... it's just one of those things i'd seen either on a menu or on a blog or in cook book and it must have lodged itself into the deepest corners of my memory... it's one of those dishes where you just know the richness of the duck will work so wonderfully with the acid of the tomato sauce. I'm also using some rather wonderful Stella Artois Raspberry Cidre in the ragu sauce as the tartness of the apples and berries will marry so perfectly with the duck... I think the whole thing combined makes for an incredibly summery dish that is surprisingly warming and rich for this time of year... it's raining like a bastard today anyway so it's an ideal dish for hanging around at home for...

... as I always try to do, i've made a veggie version of this dish so that The Viking can join in too. As you don't add the duck until the end I was able to take out half the sauce and set it aside before adding the duck, I placed a couple of nobs of butter on each of the courgettes before roasting just to add a little much needed fat and they tasted perfect...

stuffed courgettes with gressingham duck ragu there seems to be an incredible glut of courgettes this year, not entirely sure what it is with this years harvest but the combination of a very wet early summer followed by these recent weeks of warm sunshine has meant for a wonderful abundance of them, so I’ve taken advantage of this and created an unusual way to serve the ragu… it's so unbelievably simple and is a nice alternative to serving the ragu with pasta... I hope you like it.

for the slow roast duck 1 large whole Gressingham duck 2 large tablespoons of smoked maldon sea salt flakes 4 or 5 twigs of thyme or lemon thyme if you can get it 1 large carrot - roughly chopped
for the ragu sauce 2 large onions – finely chopped 1 large fennel bulb – finely chopped 1 large carrot – finely chopped 4 large courgettes – sliced lengthways with the middle scooped out 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes a selection of fresh herbs – I used 1 twig of rosemary , 2 twigs of thyme and a bunch of oregano 150ml of raspberry cidre – Stella Artois make a good one 150ml good quality vegetable stock olive oil and butter 100g strong cheddar cheese – grated
pre-heat the oven to 180C
place the carrots and the duck giblets into the bottom of a large oven-proof roasting tin and lay the duck, breast-side up, on top
rub half the salt onto the breast skin and stuff the inside with the thyme, then turn the duck over and rub the underside with salt
place in the oven, breast-side down for one hour, then carefully turn the duck over and roast for a second hour until gorgeously dark golden brown - set aside uncovered for 10 minutes before consuming but don’t forget to leave half the bird for your ragu
using two forks, finely shred the left-over duck and set aside
now you can make the ragu… in a large casserole dish or deep-sided pan, gently heat a little olive oil and butter and then throw in the onions and let them caramelize for a good 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
next add the carrots, courgettes and fennel alongwith the fresh herbs and let them saute for 5 minutes or so, then place the lid on, turn the heat very low and let them sweat for a further 5 to 8 minutes until all the veg is soft
add the rest of the ingredients, stir it all together and with the lid off let it simmer on the lowest heat for at least an hour or until the liquid has reduced by half – if you're making a veggie version of this dish, now is the time to take out half the ragu, stir in a large handful of grated cheese and set it aside...

add the shredded duck to the remaining half and simmer again for another 20 minutes, then add half the grated cheese and stir well in
pre-heat the oven to 170c and line a roasting tin with parchment paper.
lay the hollowed out courgettes skin side down in the roasting tins, drizzle with a little olive oil and season well with salt and pepper
stuff them liberally with the duck ragu and bake them in the oven for 20 minutes, after which time, sprinkle on the remaining cheese and bake again for another 10 mins

the veggie version looks just as beautiful and tastes incredible too!
i'm proud to say that I developed this recipe for the good people at Gressingham and a version of this recipe appears on the Gressingam website

eat and of course, enjoy!