Recipe Overview
This luxurious pasta dish brings together broad ribbons of fresh pappardelle, aromatic white truffle butter, and a deeply flavored blue hare ragout built on red wine, vegetables, and slow cooking. It is a dramatic game pasta with elegant Tuscan character and fine-dining depth.
Ingredients
- 900 g fresh pappardelle pasta dough
- 900 g fresh blue hare or wild rabbit
- 300 g red onions
- 50 g celery
- 600 g carrots, chopped
- 6 fresh bay leaves
- 4 juniper berries
- 1440 ml Burgundy red wine
- 60 g fresh white truffles
- 450 g butter
- 480 ml extra-virgin olive oil
- 60 g dark chocolate (100% unsweetened)
- Parmigiano Reggiano, as needed for finishing
- Salt and black pepper, as needed
Preparation
- Bone the blue hare or wild rabbit and reserve the bones. Cut the meat into large pieces and marinate overnight in Burgundy red wine with chopped carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves, and juniper berries.
- The following day, remove the meat from the marinade. Vacuum seal the meat with part of the strained marinade and cook sous vide at 145°F for 2 hours until tender but still structured.
- Roast the reserved bones with some of the vegetables until well colored. Transfer to a large pot and add the strained marinade. Add tomato paste if desired for extra body, then simmer slowly to extract flavor.
- Blend and strain the sauce base if you want a smoother ragout foundation, then reduce it until rich and concentrated. Add the cooked hare meat back into the sauce and simmer gently.
- Add the dark chocolate in a small quantity at the end to deepen the sauce without making it sweet. Adjust with salt and black pepper.
- Cook a separate small garnish of diced vegetables until tender and reserve to fold into or spoon around the ragout for texture.
- Roll the fresh pappardelle dough and cut into broad ribbons. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente.
- Melt the butter gently and infuse with shaved or finely minced fresh white truffle. Add a little Parmigiano Reggiano to enrich the butter if desired.
- Toss the cooked pappardelle with the white truffle butter until lightly coated and glossy.
- Plate the pasta in warm bowls and spoon the blue hare ragout into the center, allowing the guest to gather the truffle butter pasta and ragout together in each bite.
History & Pasta Tradition
Pappardelle is one of the great ribbon pastas of central Italy, especially suited to powerful ragouts made from wild game. Its broad surface captures rich sauces beautifully, making it the natural choice for hare, rabbit, wild boar, and deeply reduced meat preparations found across the Tuscan table.
This version elevates the rustic tradition with white truffle butter, creating a bridge between countryside cooking and refined restaurant presentation. The result is a dish with both noble aroma and old-world substance.
For more handmade pasta culture and technique, visit the Tuscany Cuisine pasta journal: Flour & Water Pasta Journal .