Wild Boar Pappardelle

Wild Boar Pappardelle is a rustic, soul-warming dish that brings the depth of traditional Italian cooking to heat you up in the wintertime. Ground wild boar mixes into a rich, tender sauce that coats wide ribbons of pappardelle pasta. To create a full-body experience, we infuse this dish with herbs, wine, aromatics, and even a touch of baker’s chocolate for complexity. It’s perfect for special dinners, cold evenings, or anytime you want a meal that feels both timeless and indulgent.

How to Shop for Wild Boar

For our Wild Boar Pappardelle you’ll want to use ground wild boar which you can find at reputable butchers and specialty meat markets. But in case you want to freshly grind the meat yourself, you’re going to want to look for cuts with a deep red color. These cuts should also have a good amount of marbling and little fat. Boar actually has a clean and sweet smell rather than a gamey odor, so keep that in mind too when making your pick.

Wild Boar Pappardelle

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• Author: Keith Recker

Print Recipe

Description

Ground wild boar contributes to a decadent pasta dish.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 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

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Instructions

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Add nutmeg, juniper, bay leaves, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Sautee for 3 or 4 minutes.
4. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, broth, and red wine. Stir until mixture is bubbling. Turn down heat to low.
5. 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.
6. When the sauce has reached desired consistency, add the grated baker’s chocolate. Stir well to melt. Turn off heat and let rest.
7. 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.
8. Add salt and pepper to the mushroom mixture and stir. The mushrooms should release their moisture. Keep stirring.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a teaspoon of olive oil to grease a 9×13 baking dish.
12. Place papardelle in boiling water. Cook until barely al dente. Strain in a colander.
13. Place a few tablespoons of sauce in the baking dish and spread to cover the bottom.
14. 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.
15. Repeat these layers one more time, but let the mushrooms be the top layer.
16. Sprinkle generously with grated Fontina.
17. Bake uncovered in the oven for 40 minutes.
18. Serve piping hot with a sprinkle of grated parmesan. Accompany it with robust red wine like a Barolo.

Recipe by Keith Recker
Photography by Dave Bryce

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