Name: Pici: Boar Sauce (Ragù di Cinghiale)
Yield: Serves 4 as a main course, or 8 as a light starter
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped; 500 g wild boar meat (shoulder); semolina pasta dough, made with 400 g semola and 200 ml water; 10 sage leaves, shredded; 2 bay leaves; 500 g tinned chopped tomatoes, or puréed fresh tomatoes; ⅛ teaspoon (a pinch) each of: ground nutmeg and cloves; ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon; 2 sticks celery, finely diced; ½ carrot, finely diced; 250 ml red wine; 1 medium onion, finely diced; 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced; 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 50 g butter; grated Parmesan, to serve; 250 ml milk

Preparation info

Serves
4
as a main course

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Geometry of Pasta

By Caz Hildebrand and Jacob Kenedy

Published 2010

About

This boar ragù is verging on a Tuscan classic, except it would usually have rosemary and thyme in place of the ground spices. These are perhaps a more northerly influence, and make for a headily aromatic sauce. If you can’t get wild boar, pork shoulder is an acceptable substitute – but you may want to add a little finely chopped prosciutto or salami for gaminess.