Happy New Year everyone! I don’t know about you, but I’m resolved to cook more but eat less in 2016…. (My contradictory resolutions should prove interesting, to say the least. 0:-) )

Food-guilt aside, let’s start 2016 out right with a recipe I’ve attempted to perfect numerous times in 2015, but took me until now to truly make well: Wild Boar Ragu with Cheesey Polenta.

The two main complaints of ragu created prior to 2016 were 1) ragu lacking in depth of flavor, and 2) the meat being too chewy and not fall-apart tender.

The secrets? A little anchovy, a little nutmeg, and a whole lot of time in the oven. I’m talking a 4 hour time-commitment to braising these delicious little hunks of meat (you could even go longer, but Dave and I were hungry and the daylight was fast deserting me…) The resulting dish was, in my opinion, ragu perfection – softly shredded tendrils of slow-cooked boar meat surrounded by a highly flavored tomato and wine based sauce.

Serving it mounded over polenta or pappardelle are classic ways to serve ragu, and I chose to serve it over pecorino-and-thyme-seasoned cheesey polenta.

(Oh. my. YUM.) Ragu has a unique history, being that it is a classic Italian dish, but doesn’t seem to have made an appearance in Italy until Napoleon invaded Italy in the 18th century. The hypothesis is that ragu is an Italian-ized version of the French Ragout, which is a braised meat stew.

The Italian Ragu varies regionally, and employs a variety of ingredients, including vegetables, tomatoes, wine, anchovy, and sometimes even milk. (Note- I’ve included milk in past ragu attempts, but couldn’t figure out the importance of this ingredient, so decided to omit it here).

What makes ragu ragu is the principal ingredient being meat, and the tomato (or other) ingredients taking a backseat to the braised whole or ground protein. There are other Italian sauces that include tomatoes seasoned with small amounts of meat, which are quite delicious as well, but they are are not a true ragu. As you might expect, ragu can vary extensively from cook to cook; typically depending on season and availability of ingredients. In keeping with this tradition, I seasoned the meaty tomato stew with thyme, bay leaves, anchovy, and nutmeg.

Probably the weirder ingredients are the anchovy and nutmeg, but never fear- the anchovy works like fish sauce in thai food- necessary for awesome flavor, but without making everything taste like fish. And the nutmeg adds a subtle little “wow, what is that that makes it taste so good?” to the dish without making you say “woah… I can definitely taste the nutmeg.”

(Also I’d just like to point out that swapping boar stew meat for pork or beef shoulder should work just fine, if you don’t have access to wild boar). So- do you have 4 hours to spare this New Year’s weekend for comforting home-cooked Italian food? Let this be your recipe.