Reheating time: 10-15 minutes- boil water!

What a beautiful morning! You know what they say, April showers bring… some serious disappointment after a relatively nice week. Also, flooding in basements, wet socks in your crocs, a general feeling of wanting to stay inside all day, and the overwhelming desire to eat ravioli. The last one is a little more conditional. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been thinking about this dinner all week. The duck legs came out amazing. I haven’t tried them with the pasta/sauce/the whole set yet, but the leg I had for breakfast was unreal. And I didn’t even heat it up! Ha. Wild mushroom ravioli with just a hint of ricotta sets the backdrop for this ducky landscape, and we have a lovely parmesan and roasted garlic cream sauce for all the saucy needs of the day. Hazelnut gremolata? Yes please. And of course, mixed greens salad with muscat grape vinaigrette for dessert. This one will warm you right up, and bring the sunshine of satisfaction over your rainy friday. Get in there!

For the duck:

Low and slow in the oven, with a final broil to crisp the skin. That’s the idea. Alternatively, you could just microwave the duck legs till hot, and then go right to the broiler. But that might dry them out. On a sheet tray lined with aluminum, arrange the duck legs skin side up, and pop them in the oven at 350. Bake for 5-8 minutes, till the skin is glistening and it’s starting to smell like duck! Once it’s hot through, transfer the tray to the broiler, and broil on low for 2-3 minutes, till the skin renders and crisps up nicely. Set them aside while you prep the pasta!

For the ravioli:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling, drop your ravis in, and give them a stir. Let them boil for 2ish minutes, till they swell up and they are all floating happily at the surface. While they cook, warm the parmesan cream in a large saucepan (or, you can just warm it in the pasta water pot once you drain the raviolis if you don’t want to dirty another dish). Strain the ravis, reserving a splash or two of the pasta water (to add back into the sauce, helps the sauce cling to the pasta). Add the ravis to the parmesan garlic cream, stir well to coat, and thin the sauce out as necessary with the reserved pasta water. If the sauce is too thin, cook it down for a minute or two over medium heat. If it’s too thick, add a bit more pasta water! Once you’re happy with your sauce, kill the heat, and keep stirring every now and then until you’re ready with everything else. The sauce will thicken up as it cools and the pasta absorbs all the moisture, so keep that in mind when you’re deciding on your final consistency. I like a bit thinner for my sauces, because in my opinion, they can get gluey- which I don’t like! A scoche of olive oil or a small whack of butter right before you plate will help prevent the glue factor for becoming an issue halfway through your dinner.

For the salad:

You know the drill. Toss the salad into a mixing bowl with the muscat grape vinaigrette, give a season with s+p, and mix mix mix! 

To plate everything up:

Scoop your ravis onto a shallow bowl, top with the gremolata, and place the duck leg right on top. Enjoy the salad on the side! That’s it! Thanks, y’all. Love you! <3