Teach them well

Not every three-year old has an award-winning chef at her fingertips but *Hospobaby does and through her mum, Chand Sahrawat, she shares her dad’s cooking lessons with us.

I have never tried to wrestle with a pasta machine, it is a contraption that has intrigued and scared me at the same time. So it was Sid who taught Hospobaby how to make her own pasta recently; after negotiating that I would help her make the yummy “quack quack sauce” (duck ragu) to go with it, so that it would be a family effort.

I prefer to use the slow cooker to make my duck ragu, that way Hospobaby can get her hands dirty without us having to worry about burning them in the oven. The recipe, below, gives you instructions for both. The ragu freezes really well.

Zoya had a great afternoon in the Sidart kitchen pushing the pasta dough through the pasta machine. Father and daughter took turns at the handle and handling the pasta. It looked relatively easy and fun.

I guess if a three-year-old can do it . . .

Duck ragu

Serves 4

2 duck legs
1 tsp butter
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 celery stalk, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp brown sugar
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup red wine
1 cup canned diced tomatoes with juice
Fresh parmesan and chopped parsley, to garnish

1. Trim the duck legs of any extra fat (that is, trim off any extra skin hanging off the sides). Season with salt and pepper on both sides.
2. Heat oven to 150C. In a saucepan heat the butter and olive oil. Place the legs skin side down and cook until brown (about 10 minutes). Flip and cook on the other side for about 5 minutes. Remove the duck legs on to a plate or transfer to a slow cooker if using.
3. Pour out all but about a tablespoon of fat from the saucepan. Return to heat and add the celery, carrot and onion. Saute for 5 minutes or until browned. Add the garlic, brown sugar, cloves and cayenne and cook for a further 3 minutes.
4. Add the red wine and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Pour the sauce into a deep ovenproof casserole with the duck legs. Bake, covered, for 2 hours until the duck is very tender. You should be able to stick a fork in the leg and the meat should fall off the bone with very little resistance. If using a slow cooker instead of an oven put the duck and sauce into the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours.
5. Remove the duck to a plate and cool. Strip the meat from the bones and shred by hand. Add the meat back to the sauce and warm up to thicken the sauce for 5 minutes. Serve over pasta. Garnish with grated parmesan and parsley.

Pappardelle

500g strong (high grade) flour
1 tsp salt
5 eggs
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp Fresh As beetroot powder (optional)

1. Mix flour and salt and sift, put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until crumbly.
2. Remove from food processor and knead for 5 minutes until smooth, wrap the dough in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour to relax the gluten.
3. Thread the pasta through the pasta machine starting from the widest setting. Take the setting down a notch and thread it through again. Continue, moving to the narrowest setting. Dust pasta with flour each time you thread it through the machine to prevent sticking. Once you have a thin sheet of pasta thread the pasta through the correct cutting attachment of your pasta machine to produce pappardelle (or cut into ribbons using a knife).
4. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente, 2-3 minutes. Drain and serve with the duck ragu.

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*"Hospo", short for hospitality, is a term used regularly in the hospitality industry. Chand and Sid own the restaurants Sidart and Cassia, so Zoya has been part of the hospitality industry from day one, hence the term "hospobaby".