Venison Bolognese (Italian Pasta Recipe)

A classic Italian pasta dish that will sure to please everyone! Recipe and directions below.

Venison Bolognese

Prep Time: 20min

Cooking Time: 40min

INGREDIENTS

  • 1lb Ground Venison
  • 1x Large Carrot (peeled & diced)
  • 1x Sweet Onion (diced) (red onion would work too)
  • 2x Celery Stalks (diced)
  • 2x Garlic Cloves (sliced)
  • 2x Anchovy Fillets (diced) (optional)
  • 3x Thick Cut Smoky Bacon Slices (diced)
  • 1 Sprig Fresh Rosemary (diced)
  • 24oz (709ml) Jar/Can of Tomato Pure
  • 1 Tbsp. Tomato Paste (optional)
  • 1 Cup Warm Pasta Water
  • Olive Oil
  • S&P
  • 1 Tsp. Red Pepper Flakes
  • Linguine or Tagliatelle Pasta (could use spaghetti but recommend others)
  • Fresh Parmesan Cheese

DIRECTIONS

  1. Render bacon in large pan over medium heat with some olive oil.
  2. When bacon picks up some colour on both sides, turn heat up to med-high and add and a little more oil and then the ground venison (can use venison sausages just push out of casing) and add S&P. Cook stirring often until meat starts to pick up some colour, then remove from pan.
  3. In same pan turn heat down to medium, add a little more oil if need be, and the carrots and sauté for a few minutes, stirring often and scrapping bottom of pan, until carrots start to colour.
  4. Add onions, rosemary and red pepper flakes and cook for another few minutes, stirring often, until onions start to become translucent.
  5. Then create a hole in the middle of the pan and add some oil and the garlic and anchovies to the middle of the pan, fry gently stirring constantly until garlic starts to brown, then mix everything together.
  6. Season veggies with S&P and add tomato paste, stir into veggies and cook for a couple of minutes.
  7. Add meat back to pan, followed by the tomato puree, stir everything together and turn heat to med-low, letting everything simmer for 10-15min (if simmering longer turn heat to low), stirring occasionally.
  8. Get a large pot of water on the stove and turn heat up to high to get it to a boil. Then add a lot of salt to boiling water. Cook pasta until al dente, drain pasta, reserving 1 cup of warm pasta water. If you will be waiting a bit before plating just add a little oil to pasta, which will help pasta from sticking together.
  9. When ready to plate, add 1 Cup of warm pasta water to sauce, stir to combine and taste, adjust seasoning if necessary, then add all your pasta to the sauce, stirring everything with some tongs to coat pasta. Then using tongs coil up a serving of pasta and place into bowl/plate, creating a spiral tower of pasta, then top with sauce around pasta, a drizzle of good olive oil and a sprinkle of fresh parmesan cheese shavings.

Recipe by: Michael E. Higgins

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