Wild Boar Tortellini

The ragù has to be cold before it goes anywhere near the pasta. Warm filling tears the dough and will not hold a shape in a piping bag. Make it the day before and the rest of this is an afternoon of folding.

Why You'll Love Wild Boar Tortellini

It's refined yet earthy. Wild boar adds depth, beef broth makes it clean and glossy, and the handmade pasta makes it special. A dish to slow down with.

Tips and Tricks

• Chill filling before shaping tortellini for easier handling.
• Don't overfill pasta - a teaspoon is plenty.
• Seal edges tightly to prevent splitting during cooking.

Variations

• Substitute pork or beef if wild boar isn't available.
• Serve with a light butter-sage sauce instead of broth.
• Add sautéed mushrooms to the filling for earthiness.

Substitutions

• Beef broth → low-sodium beef broth.
• Wild boar → pork shoulder or ground beef.
• Red wine → white wine for a lighter ragù.

Best served with

• Crusty bread
• A glass of Barolo or Chianti
• Simple arugula salad

How to Store Leftovers

Uncooked tortellini can be frozen on a tray, then stored in bags up to 2 months. Cook from frozen. Leftover cooked tortellini in broth should be eaten within 2 days.

common questions

Wild Boar Tortellini

No ratings yet

Delicate tortellini filled with wild boar ragù, simmered and served in beef broth. A rustic Italian dish reimagined with clean broth and handmade pasta.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 45 minutes mins

Active Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Servings: 4 servings

Course: Main Course, Pasta, Seasonal

Cuisine: Italian, Rustic

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x?

Filling

• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 lb ground wild boar or substitute pork
• 1 small onion minced
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• ¼ cup white wine
• 2 cups Beef Broth
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• Sea salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste

Pasta Dough

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

To Serve

• 4 cups Beef Broth hot, seasoned
• ¼ cup Grated Parmesan cheese
• 8-10 leaves Fried sage for garnish

Equipment

• Large Skillet
• Mixing Bowls
• Rolling pin or pasta machine
• Round cutter
• Dutch oven or stockpot
• Slotted spoon

Method

 

Make the Filling

1. Heat a skillet over medium head then add olive oil. Add ground wild boar and cook until browned.
2. Stir in onion and garlic; sauté until soft, add tomato paste and cook on low for another 4 minutes or until caramelized. You'll know you're ready to move on when the paste loses its raw smell and starts to stick to the pan. Those browned bits are flavor, and you get them all back the moment you deglaze.
3. Deglaze with white wine; reduce by half. You'll know all of the bits have released when you run your spoon over the bottom of the pan and it feels smooth. Raw wine throws a sharp scent that pushes your face back. Step away a few seconds, then come in from the side. You'll know it's ready when that scent is gone and you smell the wine's own fruit and the onion instead.
4. Add the beef broth, thyme, salt, and pepper. cook on low until wild boar is tender, 1 hour. Remove from heat and cool fully then place in the fridge until cold (overnight is ideal but not necessary).
5. After the ragu is cold, if it is still very chunky you can pass it though a food mill or hand chop before filling pasta and put in a piping bag. If its in small bits, you can mash it with a spoon then load it into a piping bag to make the filling process easier (but not required).

Make the Pasta Dough

1. On a board, mound flour and make a well. Crack eggs into the center, add olive oil and salt.
2. Knead into a smooth dough, 8-10 minutes. Wrap and rest 30 minutes.

Form the Tortellini

1. Roll dough thin (about 1/16 inch) using a rolling pin or use a pasta roller. Cut rounds with a cutter.
2. Pipe or place 1 teaspoon filling in the center of each round. Fold into half-moons, press edges, then wrap around the finger to seal into tortellini.

Cook and Serve

1. Bring salted water to a gentle boil. Drop tortellini and cook until they float, 3-4 minutes.
2. Warm the beef broth in a stockpot.
3. Ladle broth into bowls and add tortellini.
4. Fry the sage leaves in a shallow pool of olive oil over medium heat until the sizzling quiets and the leaves go stiff and dark, under a minute. Lift them onto paper towel, where they finish crisping as they cool.
5. Grate the Parmesan over each bowl and lay the sage on top. The sage goes on last on purpose, because a fried leaf sitting in hot broth softens inside a minute.

Notes

Storage: keep the tortellini and broth separate in the fridge for up to 2 days. Uncooked tortellini can be frozen on a tray, then bagged, for up to a month, cook straight from frozen.

Tried this recipe?

Let us know how it was!