Nothing says winter like a nice stew. We had some wild boar that we purchased from the Chicago Game Market and I had some wonderful nebbiolo that I waned to drink so I decided to make a nice Northern Italian boar stew. The dish was briefly marinated, something that I would remedy the next time I make this. It clearly should left over night, but this was done a little bit hurriedly.
3lb of boneless shoulder of wild boar
Marinade Ingredients
2 bay leaves
4 large thyme sprigs 1tablespoon dried
2 rosemary sprigs or about 2 tablespoons of dried rosemary
1 1/2 cup full-bodied red wine
2 medium onions, sliced
6 garlic cloves peeled and crushed
12 black peppercorns
1 tablespoon juniper berries, lightly crushed
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 lb of semi-dried italian sausage sausage, cut into slices
2 tsp tomato paste
2 tsp plain flour
1 1/2 cup of red wine
2 cups of beef stock
1 1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper
handful parsley, chopped, to garnish
Cut the wild boar into medium chunks and put the pieces of meat
into a large bowl and add all the ingredients for the marinade, mix
together well, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge at least overnight,
stirring it occasionally.
Separate the meat from the rest of the marinade ingredients and set
aside. Heat some of the oil in a large flameproof casserole dish and cook
the meat in batches until it is browned all over. Season as necessary.
Add all the browned meat to the
casserole dish with a little more oil and add the sausage and cook for a minute or two. Stir in the tomato purée and fry for
another minute then toss in the flour followed by the wine, both fresh and the
reserved wine from the marinade. Add the beef stock, porcini mushrooms, 1
teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Bring to the
boil, cover with a tight-fitting lid and leave to simmer gently for 1½ - 2 hours.
Shortly before the stew is ready, add the butter and some salt and freshly ground black
pepper, sprinkle with the parsley and serve.
The dish was filling, with the meat not quite as tender as I would've wanted. I really think this would've been remedied had I actually planned ahead and marinated for as long as I put in the recipe. Wild boar has this rich almost minerally quality. I made some very simple risotto and cooked up some tasty yellow carrots my dad had picked up at the farmer's market.
The next thing I want to do with wild boar is see if we can successfully make wild boar bacon. Wish me luck.
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