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Autumn’s frosty evenings call for dinner entrées that are substantial, warming and, above all, comforting. And for many of us, pasta is the ultimate comfort food. This seasonal pasta dish features hefty, chewy tubes of al dente rigatoni accented with the best of late fall vegetables in a rich, silky pan sauce based on chicken stock, emulsified butter, and plenty of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Although the pasta dish alone makes a satisfying Italian primi, or first course, and can be made meatless as a vegetarian entrée, the addition of pan-roasted duck breast elevates it into a delicious, restaurant-quality dinner.

Rigatoni is a large, tubular, dried pasta with pronounced ridges on the exterior. The pasta’s name is derived from the Italian adjective rigato, meaning “ridged.” A specialty of central and southern Italy, rigatoni traditionally is paired with full-bodied sauces typically enhanced with chunky ingredients. The pasta’s ridges are known for holding thick, clingy sauces, and its large interior cavity captures chunky bits of meat or vegetables inside—both characteristics resulting in a most flavorful and pleasantly-textured bite. For best results, choose an Italian-made, artisan pasta made from durum semolina flour for the ultimate al dente texture. This type of high-quality pasta traditionally is extruded through cast-bronze dies, giving it a rough, porous texture that really holds the sauce—especially when you finish the dish using the saltata in padella method described later in this post.

The length of standard rigatoni varies by manufacturer from 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 inches when raw, and the shapes expand even longer once cooked. I personally feel that the standard shape is too big to comfortably eat in one bite, and I always end up cutting each piece in half as I’m eating. So, when possible, I use mezzi rigatoni. These are roughly half as long and, for me, yield a perfect-sized mouthful. The choice is yours.

The combination of meltingly soft, sweet squash and toothy, slightly bitter, vegetal-tasting kale is a study in contrasts that makes this dish special.

In times gone by—and still today in many rural areas—late fall ushers in hunting season. All along the shores of lakes and estuaries, and here in the Chesapeake watershed, it’s time for the autumn duck migration, when wild duck traditionally is on the menu. Unless you are or know a duck hunter, you’re unlikely to have access to wild waterfowl. But even if—as in this recipe—we use domestic duck, topping our pasta dish with sliced, pan-roasted duck breast makes it feel autumnal.

The good news is that you don’t have to bone out a whole raw duckling to enjoy duck breast (or duck legs). Most upscale supermarkets now offer frozen duck parts that need only trimming and minimal fabrication before cooking. Pekin and Rohan breed duck breasts weigh in at 5 to 6 oz apiece yielding one serving, whereas the breasts of the larger Muscovy duck breed typically weigh 10 to 12 oz and serve two. If you can’t source boneless duck breasts, or prefer an alternative, you can use chicken breasts instead. Skin-on boneless chicken breasts are best for this dish; for a lesson in fabricating them, refer to this post: https://prepholdcook.com/recipes/early-spring/penne-primavera-with-pan-roasted-lemon-chicken-breast/ If you want to use boneless, skinless chicken breasts, briefly sauté them rather than pan-roasting them.

Let’s prep!

You’re soon to learn the professional technique of scoring the skin of a duck breast to release fat, ensure crispness, and create an attractive appearance. To do this neatly and efficiently, it helps to have the duck breasts partially frozen. If you’ve previously thawed the duck breasts, open their packages, rinse and blot them dry, place them skin-side-up on a sizzle pan or small tray, and place them in the freezer for about 20 minutes until the skin is firm.

While the duck is in the freezer, start fabricating the butternut squash. Because of its large size and thick, tough skin, peeling these can seem a formidable task. But if you learn the proper technique, use the correct knives, and are careful, you’ll succeed—and you’ll have learned a new skill that can be applied to citrus fruits, melons, pineapples, and other thick-skinned produce.

First, cut the squash in half where the solid neck joins the hollow, bulbous part. Then trim off the stem end (of the neck) and the blossom end (of the bulbous part). Because the skin of a winter squash is too thick for a swivel peeler, you’ll use a French technique called peler à vif. Stand the squash section upright with the larger end on the cutting board. Using a sharp, flexible boning knife, and following the contour of the vegetable, slice down into the flesh just adjacent to the skin. Do this all around the circumference of the squash section. You may need to go back and trim off any skin you missed, especially at the bottom near the cutting board.

Cut the bulbous part in half lengthwise to expose the seeds and stringy pulp. Using a spoon, scrape them out and discard them. Cut the flesh into slices a little less than 1/2 inch wide, and then cut the slices into lengths about the size of the rigatoni. Depending on the size of your squash and the number of servings you’re making, you may not need the whole squash. (You’ll need roughly 3 1/2 oz fabricated squash per person.) If you need more, cut the neck section into batonnets (French-fry shapes) about the size of the rigatoni.

If you’re using pre-cut, packaged squash cubes, check each piece and trim off any stringy pulp overlooked during processing.

To fabricate the kale, first rinse it and shake it dry, then remove the thick ribs. Stack the leaves and halve them lengthwise. Finally, cut them crosswise into rough 1 1/2-inch squares.

Blanch the kale by dropping it into rapidly-boiling water and cook for about 30 seconds until the leaves wilt and become tender. (If you’re using standard kale, it may need up to 2 minutes to achieve tenderness.) Use a spider strainer to transfer the kale to a bowl, and then refresh it under cold running water for about 1 minute. Drain and blot dry on paper towels.

Peel and mince the garlic and, if necessary, grate the cheese.

Your last prep step is to fabricate the duck breasts. One of the pleasures of eating pan-roasted duck breast—as opposed to eating the well-done breast meat of a roast duck—is enjoying the contrast between its succulent, crispy skin and its juicy, rosy-hued, medium-rare meat. To ensure crisp skin with minimal fat, chefs score the skin in a cross-hatch pattern before sautéing. As the surface of the skin browns, the many small openings in the skin allow the fat underneath to melt and drip out into the sauté pan. The result is crisp-textured skin without excess fattiness.

At this point the duck breasts’ skin should be very firm and the flesh very cold, containing some ice crystals but not frozen solid. Work with one breast at a time, keeping the other(s) in the freezer until you’re finished the first. Place the breast on a cutting board skin-side-down. Trim off any fat and skin visible around the edges of the meat. You’ll see a small section of tough connective tissue, called “silverskin,” near the wide end of the breast. Slide a boning knife underneath it and cut away the part that is visible. Next, turn the breast over. Score the skin in one direction, making parallel diagonal cuts through the skin but not into the meat, about 3/16-inch apart. Then turn the breast 90 degrees and make another set of cuts, resulting in a neat, tight, cross-hatch pattern. Season the flesh side of the breasts with salt, and then place the flesh sides together for holding.

Assemble the remaining ingredients. If you’re prepping ahead, store your ingredients in containers and plastic bags. Here’s your mise tray:

It’s dinnertime—let’s COOK!

Bring pasta water to the simmer and preheat an oven to 400°F.

To pan-roast the duck breasts, place a well-seasoned sauté pan, such as the Le Buyer Mineral B Pro that I use, over medium heat and wait for it to get hot. For skin-on duck breast, you don’t want a flaming-hot pan; you’re not trying to sear it. Rather, you want to slowly render the solid fat from under the skin over moderate heat. You don’t need to put oil in the pan, as there’ll soon be plenty of duck fat in it. The skin will initially stick to the bare pan, so don’t try to move it. Within about 1 minute the skin will have crisped enough to release from the pan. When the skin is golden brown, turn the breasts over and season the skin with salt. Sauté about 30 seconds longer, and then remove them to a sizzle pan or small tray. The interiors will still be raw.

Restaurant chefs add sauce to cooked pasta using a method called saltata in padella, which translates as “jump in the pan.” In this method the sauce ingredients are first heated or sautéed in a sauté pan, to which the freshly-cooked pasta and some of its cooking water are added. The pasta is tossed with the sauce and then finished with butter or olive oil and grated cheese. The sauce and pasta are seamlessly melded using the principles of emulsion and coagulation, resulting in pasta lightly but thoroughly coated with sauce that clings to every bite.

To start the sauce, heat some extra-virgin olive oil in a nonstick pan, and then add the squash with a pinch of salt. Sauté over medium heat, stirring often, for about 1 minute. Add the sage leaves and then sauté for about 3 minutes until the squash softens and becomes lightly browned around the edges. Stir in the garlic and then add the blanched kale; stir to coat it with oil. Add the chicken stock and remove from heat.

Raise the pasta water to the boil and cook the rigatoni to an al dente texture. Use a “spider” strainer to lift the rigatoni out of the water and into the sauté pan. Squeeze in the lemon, cover, and hold at the back of the stove.

Successfully finishing the sauce requires attention to detail. To make a sauce that is thick enough to cling to the pasta, yet thin enough to flow on the plate, you’ll first create an emulsion between the liquid in the pan and the cool, raw butter. Remove the lid from the pasta. Ensure that the pasta and vegetables in the pan are hot, and that there’s about 1/4 inch of liquid in the bottom of the pan. (If not, reheat and add a little pasta water.) Add the butter and stir gently over low heat until the butter chunks gradually melt into a thin, creamy-looking sauce. You shouldn’t see any streaks of separated fat. Now, bind the sauce with the cheese. Turn off the heat and stir in the grated Parmigiano. The cheese will melt and its proteins will just barely begin to coagulate, further thickening the sauce and causing it to cling to the pasta. If the sauce then seems too thick—a condition that chefs call “tight”—stir in a spoonful of the pasta cooking water to adjust its consistency. Once the cheese is in, you can’t apply any more heat lest the proteins in the cheese fully coagulate and the sauce becomes lumpy and/or stringy. Evaluate the flavor and, if necessary, add salt and/or more lemon juice.

Now you’re ready to plate.