Cinghiale Con Polenta
(Wild Boar with Polenta)

Cinghiale con polenta (Wild boar with polenta) is a great rustic dish

Cinghiale con polenta (Wild boar with polenta) is a very strong flavoured stew made with wild boar meat. The wild boar meat is a dark red meat, not too fat and with a strong gamy flavour. The meat for this cinghiale con polenta stew dish needs to be marinated overnight before being cooked. This stew recipe for cinghiale con polenta (Wild boar with polenta) needs a long time for preparation and cooking but the result is worth the wait.

Serves: 6

Preparation Time: Overnight marinate plus 15 minutes preparation

Cooking Time: 3 hours 25 minutes on top of the stove

Ingredients:

1lb cinghiale (wild boar) meat

4 cups wine (red)
6 bay leaves (whole)
1 big chunk of lemon skin (whole)
6 cloves garlic (fresh and chopped)
½ cup rosemary (fresh and chopped)
½ cup sage (fresh and chopped)
1 large onion (chopped)
2 large carrots (cut into small pieces)
¾ cup olive oil (extra virgin)
salt (to taste)
freshly ground pepper (to taste)
1 cup tomatoes (peeled)
2 tbsp of tomato paste
2 cups of vegetable stock

Marinate:

1. Cut the cinghiale meat into small chunks.

2. Place the wild boar meat pieces into a large pan.

3. Pour in the red wine until the meat is covered.

4. Add the bay leaves.

5. Add the whole lemon skin.

6. Place in the refrigerator to marinate overnight.

Method:

6. Place the stew pot onto a very high flame.

7. Pour the olive oil into the stew pot.

8. Add the garlic.

9. Add the onion.

10. Allow the garlic and onion to turn a light golden colour.

11. Transfer the wild boar meat and all the marinate ingredients into the stew pot.

12. Let the wine evaporate.

13. Frequently stir the meat.

14. Allow the meat to brown slightly.

15. Add the carrots.

16. Add the rosemary.

17. Add the sage.

18. Add the tomato paste.

19. Add the peeled tomatoes.

20. Add some of the vegetable stock.

21. Add salt and pepper to taste.

22. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer.

23. Simmer for about 3 hours until the meat is tender.

24. Add more vegetable stock as required.

25. Meanwhile, prepare the plain polenta. Use this polenta preparation method but omit the tomato sauce.

26. Spoon the cooked wild boar meat stew onto a serving plate.

27. Add some hot polenta or a couple of slices of solid polenta to the stew.

28. Serve immediately.

Trust that you found this cinghiale con polenta recipe useful.

Locate more traditional Italian Food recipes here

To discover more about Italian food visit the Italian Traditional Food webpage