Roast Wild Boar

"Meat from feral swine." That's what it said on the package of the D'Artagnan Wild Boar Mini-Roast we picked up a couple of days ago at our favorite supermarket. That awful scene from the movie Hannibal aside, there was no way we weren't going to buy it after reading that. That's practically a double-dog-dare!

We've had boar in the past, particularly in Tuscany where it is commonly served roasted, in ragus, and in sausages. And although we've never made it, we decided to treat it essentially like a little 1.5-pound roast pork, which in many ways, it is.

We made a bed of vegetables (namely onion, garlic, fennel, celery, and carrots) tossed in olive oil and placed in a small roasting pan. We seasoned the meat with salt and pepper and seared it on all sides in a cast-iron pan on the stovetop. After it was nicely browned, we rubbed the boar with an herb-garlic-and-olive oil paste, set it on top of the vegetables with a bundle made from the remaining herbs, added some water, covered the pan and roasted it for a half-hour at 375.

We used oregano, thyme and rosemary, and those flavors were prominent in every bite of meat and vegetables. The vegetable mix was the perfect accompaniment to the boar, particularly the sweet, flavorful fennel. It was a lot like roast pork, except the meat is much leaner and richer tasting. We will certainly make this dish again, or come up with other ways to use this exquisite, novel product.

Ingredients:

Note: for vegetables, we used 1/2 fennel bulb, 1 white onion, 2 cloves garlic, 2 large carrots, 2 celery stalks

Note: for herbs, we used a bundle of thyme, 3 sprigs of rosemary, and a handle of fresh oregano leaves

approximately 3 cups of roughly chopped vegetables (see note)

1/2 cup olive oil, divided

salt and pepper to taste

1.5-lb. wild boar mini-roast

fresh herbs (see note)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup water

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Toss the chopped vegetables in 1/4 cup of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Lay them in the bottom of a small roasting pan and set aside. Heat a skillet on high heat until very hot. Season the roast with salt and pepper. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet and sear the roast on all sides. While the meat is searing, take about half of the amount of fresh herbs you have and chop them finely. Tie the remaining herbs together with butcher's twine and throw into the roasting pan. Place the chopped herbs in a small bowl, and add the minced garlic and the remaining olive oil; stir to form a loose paste. After the boar has been seared, rub it all over with the paste and set atop the vegetables in the roasting pan. Add the water to the pan, then cover the pan and roast for 1/2 hour, or until internal temperature reaches 155-160 with a meat thermometer. Allow to rest before slicing and serving with the vegetables.