Pappardelle With Wild Boar Ragu

I can't resist pappardelle with wild boar ragù when I'm in either Umbria or Tuscany, where I spent some time recently. Wild boar appears on many menus in both regions, including a restaurant in Orvieto where I ate this wonderful dish last week.

 Recreating the pasta at home is easy. If you've never made homemade pasta before, click here for a tutorial.

Finding wild boar is more difficult. I couldn't get any chunks of wild boar meat, but my local supermarket sells it in ground form. If you can't find it near you, it's sold online through D'Artagnan, in all forms from sausages to stew cuts. You can always use ground pork, but it won't have that nuttiness that wild boar contains, but it will taste good, nonetheless.

Like any ragù, it needs time to simmer and develop flavors, but you'll end up with a lip-smackin' delicious sauce.

Serve it with purchased pappardelle if you like, but if you make your own, you'll be rewarded with a silky toothiness that can't be beat. Buon appetito.

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Pappardelle with Wild Boar Ragù

printable recipe here

Ingredients

1 pound ground or chopped wild boar meat

4 ounces pancetta, in small dice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup finely minced onion

2 stalks celery, finely minced

1 small carrot, grated

2 cloves garlic

1 pound wild boar meat, either ground or in chunks

1 cup milk

1 large sprig rosemary, minced

2 bay leaves

a few gratings of fresh nutmeg

1 can (28 oz) San Marzano tomatoes, pureed in food processor

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup red wine

salt to taste

pappardelle pasta (about 1 lb)

Directions

Place olive oil in saucepan, and pancetta, cooking almost until crisp, but not quite.

Add onions, celery, carrot, garlic and saute until limp.

Add wild boar meat and stir to break up clumps, cooking until all red is gone.

Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 2 1/2-3 hours, stirring every so often so nothing sticks.

If it needs more liquid, you can add a little more wine or water. 

Serve over pappardelle (preferably homemade).

Pappardelle with Beef Ragù and Chestnuts

OK, now if this pasta dish has you drooling, let me tell you it’s really easy to make and so delicious you’ll be eating seconds and thirds and fending off marriage proposals from anyone who tries it. Of course, that assumes you make your own pappardelle, following the instructions here. But if you don’t have the time or inclination to make your own pasta and instead buy a good quality pappardelle, and serve this ragù as the accompaniment, you’re still likely to have suitors filling up your dance card after they fill their stomachs.

It all starts with that beef stew I recently posted. I asked you to put some aside in the freezer for a reason (before adding the peas and carrots.)

When you defrost it, add a 1/2 can of Italian cherry tomatoes with the juices. It’s not the same with fresh cherry tomatoes, so make sure you buy the canned ones. If it’s hard to find canned cherry tomatoes where you live, you can buy them online at many places, including here. By the way, I have no financial interest in this brand or any other, so choose whatever brand you like.

 

 

After you’ve added the tomatoes, some wine, chestnuts and a little seasoning, let everything simmer for another 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to blend the flavors. You’ll get a thick and flavorful ragù that is just begging for some pasta to keep it company.

I was lucky to find fresh chestnuts from Italy in the produce section at my local grocery store. You’ll see plenty of sealed bags of chestnuts on the shelves that are already peeled and cooked, but they come from China, and I’m leery of the quality control, so I always seek out the Italian ones. The fresh ones are not that hard to cook and clean. Just cut a slit or make a cross cut in each chestnut; place them in a pan with cold water; let it come to a boil; boil for two or three minutes, then drain the water and roast the chestnuts in a 425 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes. They should be fully cooked by then. It’s easier to peel them when they’re hot, and some of the skins will peel off easily. Others are a little more resistant, but for this recipe it doesn’t matter if the chestnuts come off in one piece. You’ll be breaking them up to put in the sauce anyway. (But munch a few with a good glass of wine while you’re peeling them too!)

Get the pasta water boiling (“Butta la pasta,” as we say in Italian) and add the pappardelle, then toss the pasta with the sauce.My mouth is watering just looking at this dish. By the way, you can freeze any of those chestnuts if you’ve cooked more than you need for this recipe. With chestnut season so short, you’ll be glad you did. As the dish below says, take your photo first, then dig in.

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Pappardelle with Beef Ragù and Chestnuts

Author: Ciao Chow Linda

printable recipe here

Ingredients

• 2 cups leftover beef stew (without carrots or peas or potatoes – just the meat and the sauce)
• 1 cup canned cherry tomatoes with the juice (1/2 of a 14 oz. can)
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 teaspoon of finely minced fresh rosemary
• 1 cup cooked chestnuts, broken into pieces
• pappardelle (about 1 lb.)

Instructions

1. Take the leftover beef stew, and cut, or shred the chunks of beef into small pieces.
2. Place the beef in a saucepan with the canned cherry tomatoes, the wine, the chestnuts and the rosemary and let it all simmer for about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.
3. Boil the pasta until it is cooked and toss gently with the sauce.

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