This is a family recipe which has been passed down from generation to generation - I remember eating this every winter when I visited my Grandmother, so we are excited to share it with you!
Wild boar are very common throughout Spain as they roam freely throughout the forests grazing on acorns, grass and the roots of shrubs. This unique diet gives the meat a unique flavour, which is thought to be a slightly sweeter than pork. Wild boar meat is incredibly healthy because it is so lean - it has a third less fat, calories and cholesterol than pork, as well as a higher protein content than beef, lamb and chicken. When cooking with this meat the importance of a good marinade cannot be underestimated. This ensures the meat will be meltingly tender after a long, slow, cook.
Beans are an incredibly versatile ingredient; in this recipe we leave them to slow cook, so they soften and absorb all the wonderful flavours.
Ingredients (4 serves)
Steps to make it:
1. Chop your carrots into small roundels, and add to a large, deep bowl with the wild boar, rosemary, and the bottle of red wine. Give everything a good stir before covering and leaving to marinade in the fridge overnight. Allow 24hrs if possible.
2. In another bowl soak the beans in cold water. Leave in the fridge with the boar overnight.
3. The next day, separate the boar from the carrots. Discard the rosemary and strain the remaining liquid to use later. In a large pan drizzle some olive oil, turn the heat up high, and seal the pieces of boar.
4. These can be placed straight into your cooking pot, with a ladle of your strained marinade.
5. Deglaze the pan from the boar using a little sherry vinegar, or a bit of the red wine if you don’t have any spare. Now add your carrots along with sliced onions, leeks, celery and garlic. Sautee these over a medium heat, until the onions are soft, and the carrots have some colour. Add these to the pot with the boar along with 2 more ladles of marinade.
6. Season appropriately, before adding 2 glasses of chicken stock. Everything should be covered, (if not simply top up with your marinade). Bring the heat up under your pot until it starts to simmer, before reducing and leaving to bubble quietly for 4 hours.
7. In the meantime, add your beans to a saucepan with half a sliced onion, 1 crushed clove of garlic and a bay leaf. Cover with three fingers of cold water, before bringing to a boil over medium heat. Cover and leave for 2 hours, only giving the pan an occasional shake.
8. After 2 hours, remove the bay leaf, and set the beans to one side. Your boar should now be ready. Carefully separate the meat from the veg. Pass the thick, rich broth through a sieve to remove any impurities, before adding to your beans.
9. In a separate pan, brown a couple of gloves of garlic, before removing from the heat and immediately adding a tablespoon of sweet paprika. Mix this to paste before adding into your beans and cooking for a further 20 minutes.
10. Add your boar and stewed veg to the beans after 20 mins, before serving in hot bowls with plenty of crusty bread to soak up the juices.
