maccheroni al ragù di cinghiale
maccheroni in tuscan boar ragù
You can of course use PORK for this sauce if your supermarket is out of wild boar - either way you can get very close to a robust, piggy ragù that's often served with short pasta shapes like these maccheroni from Pasta Martelli. They're quite close to 'denti di cavallo' (horses' teeth) , one of the shapes of pasta which was originally specified by Pellegrino Artusi in the 19th Century, for Bolognese Ragù. Being a Tuscan ragù, though, here we're very happy to add spices and other flavours in the form of juniper berries, nutmeg and of course garlic.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO
(scroll down for the full method)
chop the vegetables
fry the soffritto
fry the meat
combine meat and soffritto, add stock
add polpa
allow time to pass
2/3rds way though, add milk
allow time to pass, season
boil pasta
combine and plate
maccheroni in tuscan boar ragù
INGREDIENTS
FOR 6-8 PEOPLE
400g wild boar / pork sausages
500g wild boar / pork mince
2 stick celery
2 small carrots
2 small onions
fresh basil
x2 or x3 400g tomato polpa
milk
white wine
chicken stock cubes
bay leaves
juniper berries
nutmeg
smoked paprika
cayenne pepper
PASTA
100g dry Martelli Maccheroni per person
MANTECATURA
none
METHOD
Chop the onion, celery and carrots reasonably finely - I normally dice everything by hand to about 3-4mm cubed size or thereabouts. This is what you'll see referred to as the 'soffritto', which is just a mix of those vegetables, lightly fried in EVO for around 15 mins, on a low heat. Don't colour or burn the vegetables at all.
While the soffritto is cooking, skin the sausages and fry them together with the mince in a non-stick pan. Add a splash of wine and allow to boil off.
Transfer the meat to the soffritto and add a litre or so of chicken stock. Throw in a bay leaf or two. Allow to simmer on a low heat for 20 mins or so.
Add the polpa, then allow to simmer. This is where you decide how much staying power you have - longer times generally produce a better result, but anying approaching 6 hours is a little excessive for me for most types of meat. I normally simmer my ragùs for 2 - 4ish hours, any less than that and you're possibly rishing a more granular texture to the meat.
Anywhere from half way through the cooking time to an hour from the end you can add a glass or two of milk to the ragù. Stir it in and allow it to return to a simmer. It won't curdle. Allow the ragù to reduce until it's the consistency of sloppy cement. Not liquid but not a dry paste either!
Boil the pasta, then when it's done for you transfer it to a pasta tossing pan. Add a ladle of ragù (or to taste) per portion and then toss to combine, possibly with tiny amounts of pasta water, but remember that most pasta that's served with tomato sauces doesn't need to have a long finishing-off ('mantecatura') in the sauce. Often it's a case of less than a minute of tossing to combine sauce and pasta and then plating.
NUTRITION per serving
