Ragù di Cinghiale~

Pappardelle with Wild Boar Ragù ~ month two in our food tour of Italy!

As I mentioned in my last post, we are taking a trip to Italy in October of this year and I thought it would be fun to cook some of the dishes, commonly found in the areas we are visiting. This month we tried another pasta dish (get ready because many of them will be pasta dishes!) known to many in the Florence region of Italy.

I listened to a podcast or read somewhere recently that part of the reason this dish is so well known and loved in the region, is that there has always been so many wild boar in certain areas that eating them actually helps keep the population down some. They can be a very destructive animal, especially to vineyards and other farmers who rely on their crops for income.

We started our evening off with a proper “Aperitivo” of Aperol Spritz’s, caprese salad & some cheese & nuts. Let’s talk about what “Aperitivo” means in Italy…Aperitivo is an Italian tradition and cultural ritual of enjoying a drink and light snacks in the late afternoon or early evening, before dinner, as a way to stimulate the appetite and relax after work. It’s more than just a pre-meal drink; it’s a social gathering and a way to unwind with friends and family. Typically, Italians eat dinner rather late in the day, so the Aperitivo helps to bridge the gap.

The recipe that inspired our menu came from the book “Mangia“, page 206-207, authored by Michelino Gioia from the Hotel Il Pellicano.

At first I thought, no way are we going to find Wild Boar anywhere around here. We’ve gotten a “meat gift” previously from D”Artagnan and they had several different cuts available there, but when I did a local search on Google, I found ground wild boar at Fresh Thyme Market in White Bear Lake! In hindsight, based on how you are supposed to marinate the meat ahead of time, I should have gotten the meat in a different version. And, the second issue I found, was that you can’t just go to the store and buy juniper berries! (and no, you can’t just pick them off your pine trees lol) So that would have been something I needed to order in advance. We didn’t include it and I think it would have really changed the flavor of the dish so I would recommend sourcing it from somewhere online if you decide to try to this recipe.

As written in the book:

Tagliatelle ai grani antichi con ragù di cinghiale maremmano~

1lb. 11oz. ground wild boar
1-2 oz. grated pecorino romano cheese
Olive oil, salt & pepper
Tagliatelle or other wide noodle pasta of your choice

For the marinade:
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
3 whole cloves
5 juniper berries
1 strip of orange zest
1 strip of lemon zest
10 & 1/2 oz. red wine

For the sauce:
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
10 & 1/2 oz. red wine
1/3 cup tomato paste
14 oz. pureed tomatoes
1 oz. nutmeg
2 bay leaves
small handful of thyme sprigs
2 cups of beef stock

Place the ground meat and all the marinade ingredients into a non-reactive bowl. Cover and refrigerate for about 18 hours. After that, remove the meat and discard the contents of the marinade.

Heat a large saucepan or dutch oven over medium heat and add olive oil and cook the onion, celery & carrot for 6-8 minutes, until lightly browned. Add the wild boar meat and cook, stirring constantly occasionally, for 10 minutes or until the meat is starting to stick to the base of the pan. Add the red wine and stir to deglaze the pan. Once the wine has evaporated, add the tomato paste, puréed tomatoes, bay leaves, and thyme, along with the beef stock and season with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for an hour or so, until the boar is cooked through. If the sauce starts to dry out, add a little more stock. (if using chunks of wild boar, increase this cooking time)

Towards the end of the cooking time, place a big pot of water on high heat for the pasta. Once the water is up to a boil, carefully add a good handful of salt and your pasta. Cook until al dente. Reserve a half a cup of the pasta, cooking water before draining. Use that to loosen up your sauce if necessary.

Once the pasta is done, you can toss the pasta into the sauce or plate the pasta on the bottom of a pasta bowl, top with sauce and grated cheese.

Find yourself a couple (few) bottles of fun Italian wine (we always find good stuff at Trader Joe’s!) and enjoy!

Until next time, Mangia! ❤️
~Shawn