Wild Boar Ragù
This delicious recipe uses very tender wild boar meat. Red wine and tomato sauce are the perfect accompaniment to such a strong meat flavor. It takes less than 30 minutes to prepare and about one to two hours to cook. This recipe serves four people.Top of Form
What you need:
4 sprigs of oregano (Leaves picked and chipped finely)
Olive oil (for frying)
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1 onion (peeled, chopped into fine pieces)
375ml/13fl oz of Italian red wine
2 carrots (peeled, chopped into fine pieces)
2-in strip of orange rind
2 sticks of celery (diced)
1 bay leaf
2 garlic cloves (peeled, sliced thinly)
100g/3½oz of pancetta
Flour (for dusting)
750g/1lb 10oz of wild boar (shoulder or neck, chopped into 1-inch cubes)
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
Parmesan cheese (for serving)
How you make it:
Preheat the oven to Gas 2/150 degrees C/350 degrees F.
Get an ovenproof, heavy-bottomed pan. Place it over low-medium heat. Heat the oil. Add in the bay leaf, onion, garlic, carrot, and celery.
Put the flour in a shallow bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Coat the wild boar with the prepared flour. Get another pan and heat the olive oil over high heat. Add in the pieces of wild boar meat. Fry them until golden brown. Do so in batches to avoid crowding the pan.
Add the pancetta to the softened vegetables in the first pan. Add the orange rind and another bay leaf. Cook until the fat in the pancetta has melted and until the vegetables have browned around the edges.
Add the cooked boar meat to the cooked vegetables. Pour the red wine into the pan used for frying the meat. De-glaze over medium heat. Scrape the bottom to loosen the stuck charred bits.
Add the tomato puree to the ragú and stir. Cook while stirring to avoid burning.
Pour the warm wine into the ragú. Add 200ml of water. Simmer and add the oregano leaves. Stir.
Put the lid on the ovenproof pan. Place it in the preheated oven for 1 ½ hours. The meat should be meltingly tender. The liquid should be reduced. Stir to prevent the meat from drying out. Check once or twice.
Cook your pasta in a pot.
In another pan, saute some mushrooms in some olive oil. Do so for two to three minutes.
Place the pasta into the ragu. Serve in separate portions. Top each serving with fried mushrooms and parmesan cheese.
Enjoy!