Game sauce à la Bolognese

With leftover meat from making game stock

When you have made a concentrated game stock, you can sometimes save enough meat from the bones to make a tasty sauce. I had six kilo bones of hare and deer. When I had strained the stock I had almost one kilo of cooked meat. Being Dutch, I wouldn’t think of throwing that away. It was too much to feed it all to the cats, so I made this delicious pepper sauce with it.
However, to get that leftover meat, you’ll have to pick over the bones very carefully after having strained the stock. The gristle has become quite gelatinous, and small pieces of bone will come loose too. Feel with your bare fingers to avoid breaking your molar over a tiny piece of bone.

This sauce is a variation of the classic Italian Bolognese sauce. That one (at least, if you have a good recipe) has to simmer for a couple of hours at least. Because the leftover game meat has already simmered, this sauce will need less time. Within thirty minutes it’s ready to be served.
Pasta sauce for 4 persons; preparation in advance 15 minutes; preparation 15 minutes.

200 gr (ca ½ pound) game meat, leftover from making stock
30 gr (1 oz.) Parma ham
1 stalk of stem celery
1 small carrot
1 onion
1 dl (½ cup) full bodied red wine
1 small tin of tomato purée
2½ dl (1 cup) game stock
1¼ dl (½ cup) crème fraîche
salt and pepper to taste
3 Tbsp olive oil
grated Pecorino (Italian sheep cheese)

Preparation in advance

Chop onion, stem celery, carrot and Parma ham into very small pieces, using a knife or a blender. Heat olive oil in a casserole, and fry these chopped vegetables and Parma ham until slightly browned. Then remove from the casserole.
Chop the leftover game meat in the blender.

Preparation

Add some more olive oil to the casserole. Add the meat, fry for a minute, then add wine. Let the wine evaporate almost completely, keep stirring the contents of the pan. Now return the fried vegetables/ham, and add tomato purée and game stock. Let simmer for fifteen minutes at a slow fire. Add the cream, simmer for five more minutes. Taste it, decide whether to add salt and pepper or not. (remember that cheese is salty too)

To serve

With papardelle, tagliatelle, or just macaroni. The cheese is not sprinkled over the sauce, but served separately.This way you let everyone decide for themselves how much cheese they want to add.

Recipe for Game Sauce à la Bolognese
A delicious game sauce from leftover meat from making stock.
© Author Christianne Muusers