Pappardelle with braised hare ragu

Based on an ancient dish known as lepre in salmi in Italian, this pappardelle with braised hare ragu is one of the most delicious wild game recipes in the Italian kitchen. The hare meat is marinated in red wine, herbs, and spices and then slow cooked in wine and stock until tender.

In this version, cocoa powder added at the end gives the sauce an incredibly rich deep, slightly chocolaty flavor.

History of Italian game recipes.

Game has long been a traditional food source for the Italians. Since ancient times the people of the Italian peninsula have hunted wild game in their mountains and forests. Today, hunting is less popular than it used to be of course, but Italy still has around 800,00 registered hunters.

The most popular types of game these days are different species of deer, wild boar, pheasants, quail, partridge, duck, woodcock, rabbit, and hare. However, hunting is strictly regulated in Italy and there are designated seasons for hunting the different types of animals and fowl.

As you can imagine, there are many Italian wild game recipes, some of which date back centuries. The meat of the larger animals is often made into salami or sausages. It’s also cooked in stews and casseroles.

Game meat is also a traditional ingredient for pasta ragu such as the hare ragu in this recipe and Tuscan wild boar ragu and venison ragu from Trentino-Alto Adige.

Is game meat healthy?

Game is usually healthy meat because it’s mostly consumed unprocessed. It is definitely a healthier alternative to farmed animal meats. It is lower in saturated fat and calories and free from hormones and additives. It’s also rich in iron.

What does hare taste like?

Wild hare (sometimes called jackrabbit in the US) tastes more like chicken than red meat. However, it has a richer and meatier flavour than chicken and even farmed rabbit. With proper cooking, the meat is soft, amazingly tender, and melts in your mouth. It goes really well in rich sauces and when slow cooked like in this braised hare ragu recipe.

Lepre in salmi.

Salmi is the name given to a type of red wine marinade dating back to Medieval times or even earlier. Lepre in salmi or hare in salmi is one of the most well-known of these dishes. However, you can also find wild boar, deer, pheasant, and partridge prepared the same way.

Lepre in salmi is traditional served with polenta. But it makes a wonderful game ragu. In fact, hare ragu is popular in a number of Italian regions, particularly Tuscany, Marche and Abruzzo, Veneto, Piemonte and Lombardy. Preparing the hare in salmi is more traditional in the Northern regions. In fact, this recipe comes from Lombardy.

What’s the difference between cooking rabbit and hare?

Hare and rabbit are two very different animals. They may look similar, but they are separate species with differences in behavior and range. Consequently, their meat is also different.

Hares have dark meat and do well with longer cooking time. Rabbit meat is lighter and can be cooked much faster. You can even fry rabbit. You can use rabbit for this ragu recipe, but it doesn’t need such long marinating or cooking.

Ingredients for this braised hare ragu with chocolate.

The hare: I used ready cut cubes of boneless hare meat. Some Italian recipes for hare ragu or lepre in salmi call for different bone-in cuts of hare (legs saddle etc) which you need to debone before or after marinating or cooking. Of course, if you are serving your braised hare without pasta, you don’t need to debone it.

The vegetables (aromatics): This recipe calls for garlic, onion, celery and carrots as the base or soffritto. Some Italian lepre in salmi recipes add the veg to the marinade and then remove them and chop them for the sauce. I preferred not to add them to the marinade.

Herbs and spices. The marinade in this hare ragu has cinnamon sticks, cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves, sage leaves and juniper berries. This blend of herbs and spices adds warmth and a hint of spice to the meat and sauce that complements the slightly gamey flavor of the hare.

Red wine: since I live in the Valpolicella DOC region in Veneto, I used a Valpolicella classico for the marinade. You can also use a Merlot, Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon instead.

Beef stock. I used an organic ready-made beef stock as part of the braising liquid. You can use a homemade stock or even water.

Butter: The vegetables in this hare ragu are sautéed in unsalted butter instead of the usual olive oil that so many Italian recipes call for. Olive oil is healthier but it’s less traditional in the North than the South. Italian butter is always unsalted. If you use salted butter, reduce the amount of salt added as seasoning.

The chocolate.

Cocoa powder: Adding bitter cocoa powder or dark chocolate to game recipes is quite popular in Italy and dates back to at least the late 1700s. Italians also use it in some venison recipes and the Roman oxtail ragu recipe, coda di vaccinara.

Plus, game with chocolate is also a Spanish recipe, particularly with partridge. Combining chocolate with the spices in this recipe creates a complexity of flavor with an element of sweet-sour (agrodolce).

The Pasta.

I used dried pappardelle which is one of my favoruite types of pasta for game ragu. In fact, it’s THE pasta for game ragu recipes in Tuscany. Tuscan wild boar ragu is nearly always eaten with pappardelle.

You can also use other egg pasta ribbons or even rigatoni as in this recipe video for a very similar braised hare ragu with chocolate recipe by Italian TV chef Alessandro Borghese. (This video is in Italian).

Making this braised hare ragu with chocolate.

Although this recipe takes time to make, it’s actually quite easy, especially if you have managed to source boneless hare meat. Otherwise, if you have a whole hare, it’s best to cut it up and then remove the meat after the pieces have marinated or even after cooking, discard the bones and keep the meat for the sauce.

Here’s a website with instructions on how to prepare a whole rabbit or hare.

Step by step instructions with tips.

The day before.

Place the hare meat in a deep bowl. Add all the marinade herbs and spices. Pour in the red wine. You need to just about cover the meat. Use plastic wrap to seal the top of the bowl and place in the fridge for 12-24 hours. Give the marinating meat a stir a couple of times during the marination.

Make the braised hare ragu

Drain the wine into a pan or large jug, remove the meat and discard the spices and herbs. Pat the meat dry with kitchen paper then season with salt and pepper and coat lightly in flour. Heat some olive oil in a skillet and then quickly sear and brown the hare pieces.

Prepare the vegetables. Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic, wash the carrots and celery and cut into small pieces. Wash and chop the rosemary if using fresh sprigs. Wash and chop the parsley.

Melt the butter in a heavy pan or Dutch oven. Sauté the garlic, onion, carrots and celery until they start to soften. Add the rosemary and pieces of seared hare. Cook everything together for 5 minutes, then add the beef stock.

Mix well, so the flour from the meat dissolves into the liquid. Then add some of the wine from the marinade. Mix again, cover and simmer for up to 2 hours. Stir occasionally and add more wine or stock if the ragu seems to be drying out.

After 1.5 -2 hours the hare meat should be soft and tender. Obviously, the size of the pieces will affect cooking time. If necessary, cook for longer. Once the meat is tender, add the cocoa powder and mix it into the ragu. Cook on a low heat for another 5 minutes.

Cook the pasta.

Finally, prepare the pasta. Put a pot of water onto boil for the pasta. Add salt once it starts to boil. Bring to a boil again and then add the pasta. Cook al dente according to the instructions on the packet. I used dried pappardelle. You can also use fresh pasta ribbons or pasta tubes like rigatoni.

Serve. When the pasta is ready, drain it and add it to the ragu. Mix together gently, add chopped fresh parsley and serve immediately.

What you can do with leftovers.

If you have leftover braised hare ragu which you haven’t mixed with pasta, this can be kept in the fridge in a sealed container for 2-3 days or frozen in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months.

I prefer not to freeze ragu mixed with cooked pasta as I think the pasta becomes mushy when defrosted and reheated. But, you can keep ragu mixed with pasta in the fridge for a couple of days and reheat in the microwave.

Let me know what you think.

This pappardelle with braised hare ragu is definitely a restaurant-worthy dish. The ragu is rich, the meat super tender and the addition of chocolate really makes it special. if you try this recipe out, I'd love to know if you liked it as much as we do.

Please leave a comment here on the blog or on The Pasta Project Facebook page.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Buon appetito!

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