Description
Ground wild boar contributes to a decadent pasta dish.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 lb ground wild boar
- 1½ cups dry red wine
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1 celery stalk, minced
- 1 carrot, minced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 3 juniper berries
- 3 cloves
- 3 bay leaves
For the sauce:
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, minced
- 1 carrot, minced
- 1 celery stalk, minced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 juniper berries
- 4 bay leaves
- 3 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 2 tsp salt (more to taste, if needed)
- 1 tsp ground black pepper (more to taste, if needed)
- 750 g Pomi crushed tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 cups dry red wine
- 2 tbsp bakers chocolate, grated
For the sautéed mushrooms:
- ½ lb brown mushrooms, sliced
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
For the pasta:
- 3– 8.8 oz packages DeLallo egg papardelle
- 1 ½ gallon tap water
- ¼ cup salt
To assemble the dish:
- 10 oz Fontina cheese, grated
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- The night before you plan to eat this dish, prepare the wild boar mixture. In a non-reactive bowl, combine ground wild boar, red wine, minced shallot, carrot, celery, juniper berries, cloves, and bay leaves. Marinate overnight in refrigerator. Remove from refrigerator when you begin to prepare the sauce.
- In a large Dutch oven, add olive oil over a high flame. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Sautee until onions are translucent. Turn down the flame to medium.
- Add nutmeg, juniper, bay leaves, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Sautee for 3 or 4 minutes.
- Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, broth, and red wine. Stir until mixture is bubbling. Turn down heat to low.
- Let simmer for at least two hours, stirring every 15 minutes, until all is tender and sauce is thick. It will likely take 2 ½ or 3 hours to get a thick sauce.
- When the sauce has reached desired consistency, add the grated baker’s chocolate. Stir well to melt. Turn off heat and let rest.
- Meanwhile, put ¼ cup olive oil in a large skillet over a high flame. When oil is very hot, add the mushrooms. Stir constantly until the mushrooms are seared and start to darken.
- Add salt and pepper to the mushroom mixture and stir. The mushrooms should release their moisture. Keep stirring.
- When the 90% of the moisture has cooked away, add parsley. Stir to combine. Turn off the flame and let the mushrooms rest. Taste to see if you wish to add salt and/or pepper.
- Put 1 ½ gallons of water and ¼ cup salt in a pasta pot over a high flame. Cover and bring to a rolling boil.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a teaspoon of olive oil to grease a 9×13 baking dish.
- Place papardelle in boiling water. Cook until barely al dente. Strain in a colander.
- Place a few tablespoons of sauce in the baking dish and spread to cover the bottom.
- Place a layer of pappardelle on top of the sauce. Sprinkle lightly with black pepper. Sprinkle generously with grated fontina. Place mushrooms across the surface. Cover with a ladle or two of sauce.
- Repeat these layers one more time, but let the mushrooms be the top layer.
- Sprinkle generously with grated Fontina.
- Bake uncovered in the oven for 40 minutes.
- Serve piping hot with a sprinkle of grated parmesan. Accompany it with robust red wine like a Barolo.