Siena-inspired Wild Boar Ragu

Pork Ragu is huge on flavor, medium on effort, and easy on the budget. My recipe recalls a dish experienced in Siena, Italy, at Osteria il Carroccio. It’s based on recipes like this one in the NYT.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground pork
• 4 wild boar sausages
• Leftover decent red wine, ½ bottle
• 1 large clove garlic
• ½ sweet onion chopped
• Meat of two figs (compost skins) 
• Scant fresh jalapeno minced
• 4-5 Mushrooms
• 10 oz strained tomatoes (or fresh chopped, or combo)
• 2 large roasted red peppers (jarred) chopped
• Salt and pepper & sprinkle of sugar to taste

Directions

• Remove sausage from casings and combine with ground pork and wine until all just mixed, don’t overmix (nice to leave hunks). Let set a few hours even overnight. 
• Sauce: Strain meat and reserve liquid. Saute onions, minced jalapeno, garlic, figs, and mushrooms over med high heat in 3 T olive oil until soft and browning.
• Add reserved liquid, red peppers, and fresh tomatoes if using.
• Cook over medium low heat for five minutes.
• Remove from heat.
• In cast iron pan, heat olive oil and cook meat over medium-high heat until brown, stirring infrequently to leave large pieces.
• When browned about 50 %, add in rest of the sauce mix, and tomato sauce, add red wine if needed to thin.
• Simmer until ready to serve.Best with large pasta like papparadelle (traditional),