Pappardelle with hare sauce
( Pappardelle alla lepre )

Hare sauce for pasta recipe

Preparation and cooking

• The day before.
• - Cut your hare in portions as big as you want.
  Remember what I've written before. You can cut your hare in big pieces, cook and bone after cooking or bone it still raw. Read more below in my tips.
  Marinate your hare in water and vinegar, about 24 hours if it is wild.
• The day after.
• - Pat dry hare pieces with absorbent kitchen paper.
• - Prepare hare sauce.
  Fry lightly chopped carrots, celery and onion in olive oil together with bay leaf, in a saucepan.
  Add hare pieces and brown them on all sides.
  Pour in red wine and allow it evaporate completely.
  At this point add milk, season to taste with salt and pepper (if liked), lower heat and continue cooking, half-covered, until your meat is very tender.
  It may take a couple of hours.
  If necessary, you can add some hot water.
  Few minutes before turning off the stove, sprinkle with chopped parsley and stir.
• - Cook Italian pappardelle al dente stage, in abundant salted water.
  Drain very well and transfer in a bowl together with hot hare sauce.
  Stir very well with delicacy.

Just before serving

• - Serve your hare pappardelle accompanied by a bowl full of grated Parmesan cheese.
  Everyone will be able to serve himself according to his own taste.

Note

Tips

• - I always prefer to cook my hare in large pieces and bone it after. The result is what you see in the photo. Small pieces of meat that give you the greatest satisfaction and no discomfort at table.
  Have you ever tried to eat pappardelle with hare into small pieces with their bones when you're at a restaurant?

Menu planning

• - Pappardelle with hare can be a satisfying main dish for your family menu when there is something to celebrate. But this is a perfect first course on a particular occasion too if you plan an Italian menu.
  In the second case servings should be reduced and what I have already suggested can serve 10 people or more, depending on your menu.
• - Here's a typical Italian menu of mine from antipasto to dessert with hare pappardelle. All links to suggested recipes below!
  Starter: artichoke egg casserole accompanied by assorted salami and cheeses. Another idea could be spinach and fat pie to pair to Tuscan assorted salami.
  First course: this pappardelle recipe
  Half dish: before serving the second course, I'd choose another recipe that prepares the mouth to taste better the other kind of meat. It would be perfect one medium-size tortello or raviolo with a vegetarian filling (ricotta and spinach, broccoli and chickpeas, chestnuts and cabbage ...) to boil, drain very well and season with butter and sage.
  Second course: I'm sure the best recipe is stuffed boned rabbit accompanied by baked potatoes.
  Dessert: choose your favorite seasonal tart among cherry tart in spring, castagnaccio or grape-and-amaretti tart in autumn, orange-and-chocolate tart in winter, apple tart (the best cake for every season). Anyway you can look for other ideas in our section dedicated to Italian cakes and desserts.
  Pair all your menu with Chianti. This red wine from Tuscany is excellent for all the courses I've just suggested.
  

Useful links for this recipe

• - I begin with antipasto (starter) and the first link is to egg and artichoke casserole. I have also suggested a savory tart made with spinach and lard.
• - Are you interested in stuffed boned rabbit roll?
• - Finally, follow the link to Italian cake and dessert directory where you can find all the seasonal sweet recipes easily!

Healthy eating

• - I will not spend too much time on pappardelle with hare from nutritional point of view because it is definitely a dish that is rarely done.
• - As you can see, it isn't low in calories despite the amount of fresh pasta, below the prescribed dose (120 to 130 grams per head) but it is a recipe rich in ingredients.
• - Nutrition facts of hare pappardelle don't include grated Parmesan because everyone is free to add it on his pasta dish. Remember every tablespoon make calories and total fat increase. Add 58 calories and 4 grams for fat per every tablespoon.

Loretta

What's the right wine for " Pappardelle with hare sauce "?

My husband and I generally pair Chianti D.O.C.G. Riserva (a red wine from Tuscany - Italy) to pappardelle with hare sauce.

A little history

This is a typical dish of Arezzo in Tuscany. Pappardelle can be also dressed with other sauces made with wild boar or rabbit.