Wild Boar ragu with pappardelle

So, I got a slow cooker for Christmas and also bought some wild boar.  As wild boar has to be cooked long and slow to get the flavour and make sure it's not too tough, it should be a marriage made in heaven, yes?  Indeed, it turned out to be exactly that!  You can of course cook it in the oven or on the hob in the same way, but here is my slow cooker version.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 small carrots, peeled and diced

3 sticks celery, peeled and diced

1 large onion, peeled and diced

3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1 bay leaf

A few springs of thyme

2 large tomatoes, diced

500g wild boar, diced

175ml red wine

500ml chicken stock

400g chopped Italian tomatoes

Salt and pepper to taste

Dried Pappardelle pasta to taste 

Method
First, make the soffritto by heating the oil in a medium frying pan and then adding the carrots, celery, onions and garlic in that order.  I tend to prep the veg while cooking as the carrots ad celery require more time to cook than the onions and garlic, so cooking the carrots while peeling and dicing the celery etc. works out perfectly.

Once the soffritto is cooking, add the diced wild boar and brown on a high heat.  Add the red wine, then reduce to half the volume.  Add the Chicken stock and reduce to 2/3 volume, still on a high heat.  Finally add the tomatoes, bay leaf and thyme and season to taste.  Put this in the slow cooker and cook for 5 hours on a low heat, skimming every 2 hours to remove the fat that comes to the surface.

Prepare the pappardelle as per the instructions (you can make your own pasta, but I find the dried tastes just a good!), then serve a couple of spoons of the ragu over the top of the pasta.  If you wish you can add cheese, but as this is a rich dish I prefer it in small quantities without adornment.  Whatever is left over can be frozen for a quick supper.

I hope you enjoy it :)