I was determined to create something for the family Christmas dinner, that reflected what I do with food. We have created something similar at the restaurant, which was damn tasty, so the idea was to take that and throw my taste into the mix. My palate demands strong flavour when cooking for me. Robust and savoury would be how I would place my palate. So Alas, the tortellini.

Duck Stock
2 Duck Carcasses
1 Chicken Carcass
Mirepoix
Bouquet Garni

1. Roast off the carcasses, approximately one hour, deglaze roasting pan with red wine.
2. Add mirepoix, and bouquet garni.
3. Fill with COLD water to just cover and let simmer 4-8 hours.

*note: I did not remove any duck fat, and degrease the roasting pan as I saved the cooled and congealed fat for duck confit. Killed two birds with one stone.

Duck Consommé

1. Mix ground protein with egg whites, allow to congeal and clarify the stock. Watch carefully at first, if the "raft" breaks you are SOL.
I am not going horribly in depth with making a consommé, there are many resources on how to do it, and I am short for time.

Tortellini Filling
2 Chicken Legs, seasoned
150g Soft Unripened Goat's Cheese
1 Onion
250ml Red Wine (drink the rest)

1. First the Chicken Legs were put into the smoker for approximately one and a half hours at 315 degrees. Allow to cool, and shred with a fork. Do not use the skin.
2. Cut to onion in half, knock off the ends in a diagonal fashion, and slice thinly north to south. Saute, and deglaze with a little wine every time the pan gets dry. When the previous wine has evaporated add a little more. Do not rush this progress.
3. Blitz up the shredded Chicken, Caramelized Onions, and Goat Cheese into a fine, but not wet paste. It should hold together.

Pasta Dough:

For the pasta dough I tried the pasta recipe from the French Laundry Cookbook, it yielded an incredibly soft dough that was a pleasure to work with. Not sure I can publish that on account of copyright laws and what not.

Summary

I was incredibly pleased with the taste of the finished product. The filling was incredibly flavourful, and set in a nice mellow, but favourable consommé. I feel the flavour was too much for most of the family, as I am sure there were many ingredients in there they were not accustomed to tasting (ie smoke, wine, truffle, goats cheese). Next time I will do without the truffle oil garnish. It was a gorgeous smelling addition, however sometimes its more about taking things away from a dish then adding them in. I currently have some duck confit, and duck proscuitto on the go, so hopefully I will get pictures of that for everyone.