Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Fettuccine with Wild Boar and Mushroom Ragù
After yesterday's exhausting long distance run through the city, mum and I decided to take it easier today. We had largely ignored the north side the day before, so today we rectified this by heading straight across Ha'Penny Bridge to the Jervis centre. Unfortunately, not surprisingly, we did not find much of interest there. I know this sounds terribly arrogant, but I am not a big fan of the whole pedestrian area around Mary, Henry and Moore Streets. The Tesco isn't half as nice as the Dunnes Stores on George's Street and in St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, shopping at Marks & Spencer there is stressful rather than pleasant and I have yet to find a shop there (food related or otherwise) that I like. I know that some people love the traders on Moore Street, but to me they are a poor copy of what I have on Meath Street. Less friendly, more expensive and always out to hide a rotten piece of fruit or veg in the bottom of your bag. The Asian shops in the area are very good, but so far I have never needed anything that I have not found at the Asian Emporium on George's Street. I have heard that one of the Chinese restaurants on Moore Street is quite good and have read a very positive critique of an Indian
place there, but I have not tested either, so I can't really utter an opinion. But I have every intention of going there, so I will keep you posted.Mum wanted to invite Lofty and me for dinner in a restaurant tonight, but in the end we all decided that there was no point in spending lots of money on a dinner without knowing what we were going to get. Dining out in Dublin is a bit of a hit and miss affair. You can have great food for little money and very bad food for an outrageous price. We suggested L'Gueleton or one of the above-mentioned Asian restaurants, but none of them were really what we wanted. The solution came to us in the afternoon in Little Italy. Mum and I were lounging in a pair of huge beanbags on display outside a shop on Bloomes Lane resting our feet and looking back at the many Italian restaurants there when she told me how much she loved Italian food, particularly pasta. And once again it seemed ludicrous to go out if the perfect dinner could be made quickly and cheaply at home. I had the perfect ingredients at home already: wild mushrooms, some Austrian wild boar salami my mum had bought for us and even a truffle that I had frozen for a special occasion. All I needed was a can of tomatoes. And here is what you will need to recreate the dish:
enough pasta for 3 people (I used some fresh fettuccineBy the way, this is a perfect dinner to pre-prepare. A bit like a stew or a curry, the sauce actually tastes better when it has been reheated.that had looked too good to leave behind at Marks & Spencer on Wednesday, but any pasta, especially short, hollow types, will work here)
1 tbsp goose dripping
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped (or 1 tsp dried)
2 tsp fresh oregano, chopped (or 1 tsp dried)
1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped (or ½ tsp dried)
a 5cm piece of wild boar salami, finely chopped (alternatively use ground meat or ordinary salami)
3 large handfuls of mushrooms (you can use button mushrooms, but as usual with mushrooms, the wilder they are the better)
a few dried porcini mushrooms, chopped and soaked in some hot water (save the soaking liquid)
150ml full bodied red wine
1 can chopped tomatoes (if tomatoes are in season, use 600g fresh tomatoes)
1 tsp light brown sugar (if needed; at times tomato sauce can be quite tangy and brown sugar helps to mellow it out a bit)
1 vegetable Oxo cube
salt and pepper to taste
freshly grated parmesan to serve
fresh truffle shavings or a few drops of good quality truffle oil to serve (optional)
Heat the goose fat and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large saucepan or a frying pan with high walls over medium low heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden, about 10 minutes.
In the meantime, clean the mushrooms and cut off the stems. Chop the stems and any button mushrooms you are using into fine bits. Halve the rest or leave the small ones whole.
When the onions are cooked, add the chopped herbs, salami (if you are using ground meat, don't add it yet) and mushroom stems. Turn up the heat and continue frying until the mushrooms have released all of their liquid.
Pour in the wine and reduce to a syrupy consistency. This should take about 5 minutes. If you are using ground meat, now is the time to add it. Finally, add the soaked mushrooms in their liquid and the chopped tomatoes. Partly cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. If you are using salami, you might want to purée the sauce now to get rid of hard lumps. (I did.) Return to the stove, add the sugar (if needed) and Oxo cube and continue cooking until thickened.
About 10 minutes before you are ready to serve (longer if you are using dried spaghetti), heat the remining oil in a shallow frying pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and fry until soft and golden. At the same time prepare the pasta according to package instructions. Serve with the sauce, top with the mushrooms and sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan and truffle shavings.
Christine at 6:41 pm
