Duck and Chestnut Ragu Cottage Pie with Celeriac and Pumpkin Crust
Duck and Chestnut Ragu Cottage Pie with Celeriac and Pumpkin Crust is a fancy take on the good old Cottage Pie. Bold ragu complimented perfectly by the creamy crust, with a touch of sweet.
An ovenproof dish measuring about 30cm x 23cm (12" x 9").
Ingredients
The Ragu
4skinless duck breastsabout 500g (1.1lb)
200gcooked chestnuts
1celery stick
1medium carrot
1eating apple
1large onion
2large cloves garlic
2TbspEV olive oil
5juniper berriescrushed with a pestle and mortar or the side of a knife
1Tbspall purpose flourplain flour
250mldry white wine
2 x 400gcan chopped tomatoes
3Tbspsundried tomato paste
2sprigs rosemaryleaves only
10sage leavesor 1 tsp dried
¼tspsugar
half tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
Pie Crust
500gpumpkinskinned weight
500gceleriacskinned weight
2large potatoes
60gsalted butter
2Tbspsingle creamabout 18% fat
¼tspsalt
freshly ground black pepper
100gCheddar cheese, grated
30gsalted buttersoft
Instructions
The Ragu
Chop up the duck meat into little cubes, measuring about 1cm (about 1/2").
Chop up the chestnuts, celery and carrot to about roughly the same size as the duck. You are just going for little cubes, don't worry too much about exact sizes. And don't worry if your cooked chestnuts fall apart when you're chopping them.
Chop up the apples, also into cubes, but they can be slightly bigger, as the apples will virtually fall apart in the cooking.
Chop up the onion and garlic finely.
Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a saucepan. I used a wide dish to encourage the sauce to dry up, as we don't want a soggy base in our cottage pie. But you can please yourself, just cook it a little longer if the sauce is a bit watery.
Brown the duck meat for 3 minutes, stirring regularly. Tip out onto a plate and keep warm, reserving the fat in the pan.
Return the pan to the heat and lower the heat to medium. There should be enough fat in the pan, if not add just 1 tsp more of olive oil. Sweat the onions for 1 minute, stirring.
Add the garlic, celery, carrots and juniper berries and cook, for 2 minutes. Stir the mirepoix (the vegetables) well, cooking them and colouring them evenly.
Add the flour, stir for 20 seconds or so, then pour in the wine, stirring vigorously, and leave to cook for 30 seconds.
Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, rosemary, sage leaves, sugar and salt, stir and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat right down and leave to simmer, covered, for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, then 2-3 times more in the last 10 minutes, as the ragu is drying up and beginning to catch at the base.
When it's done, taste it, and add more salt if necessary. Finish off with freshly ground black pepper. Move on to the assembly.
The Pie Crust (Mash Topping)
While the ragu is cooking, let's do the pie crust. Start by filling a large saucepan halfway with water. Add 1 tsp of salt and bring the water to boil on high heat.
Peel the celeriac and pumpkin with a sharp knife. Peel the potatoes too, with a vegetable peeler.
Cut up the celeriac, pumpkin and potato into cubes measuring about 5cm (2").
Add the chopped up vegetables to the boiling water, and bring back to boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and leave to cook for 20 minutes. At the end of that time, insert a knife through a celeriac and pumpkin, making sure that they are fully cooked and soft, almost at the breaking point. The potatoes should be fine.
Drain the vegetables and place back in the hot saucepan on the hot hob, with the heat off. Leave to steam dry for 3 minutes.
Mash the vegetables with a potato masher. If the mash is too watery, turn the stove on low and cook for 1 minute, stirring al the time, to cook off the liquid.
Add the butter and mash it in, or stir with a ladle/spoon.
Stir in the salt, cream and cheese, and finish off with lots of freshly ground black pepper. Taste and add more salt if you think it needs it. Let's assemble our pie.
Assembling and Cooking the Cottage pie
Preheat the oven to 200˚C/180˚C Fan/400˚F.
Fill your oven proof dish with the duck ragu, flattening out and evening out the ragu.
Top with the mash, again evening it out gently, as you don't want to upset the ragu underneath.
Take a fork and create shallow swirls on the surface.
Dot the remaining butter all around the mash topping and bake in the hot oven for 45 minutes until the pie crust has taken on a lovely crispy texture with the odd browning.