Love pasta? Adore chocolate? It turns out that the two can be deliciously combined – Mario Matassa shows us how in this meaty recipe that’s bursting with flavour
Serves 4
Preparation time 50 minutes, plus resting
Cooking time 2 hours 45 minutes
Ingredients:
• 400g plain flour
• 4 medium free-range eggs
• 1 tbsp bitter cocoa powder
For the wild boar ragù
• 300g wild boar meat
• 250ml red wine
• a sprig of rosemary
• a few sage leaves
• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, peeled, finely chopped
• 1 small carrot, peeled, finely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, peeled, crushed
• 300ml tomato passata
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions:
1 Begin by marinating the wild boar overnight in the red wine and herbs. The following day, discard the marinating juices, chop the meat up into small cubes and set aside.
2 Pour the oil into a pot and add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Slowly cook the vegetables until softened. Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon and set aside. Turn up the heat and add the wild boar, searing the meat on all sides. Return the vegetables to the pot along with the passata. Season, then leave over a low to medium heat for 2-2½ hours. When cooked, the meat should break apart easily with a fork.
3 Make the fresh egg pasta as per the instructions here, adding the cocoa with the eggs. When the ragù is ready, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and add the pasta. The pasta will not take long to cook once the water returns to the boil. Drain the pasta and toss with the wild boar sauce. Serve piping hot.
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