Pappardelle alla lepre - Pappardelle with rabbit sauce

Ingredients:

Ingredients for the pasta: 600 g of flour, 6 eggs, a pinch of salt.
Ingredients for the sauce: one half of a rabbit (including the liver), 2 large red onions, 2 stalks of white celery, 2 carrots, 4 cloves of garlic, one handful o parsley, 300 g of peeled tomatoes, 1 bottle of tuscan red wine, 1/2 liter of broth, 60 g of grated Parmigiano Reggiano, 2 dl of extra-virgin olive oil, salt, pepper.

Directions:

Divide the rabbit into small pieces and place in a bowl, flavor with salt and pepper. Add one carrot, one stalk of celery and one onion, chopped with two crushed cloves of garlic. Cover with 1/2 liter of red wine, marinating for around 12 hours. Finely chop the remaining carrot, celery, onion, garlic and parsley and brown them in a large pan with the olive oil. Add the pieces of meat, including the liver, and when browned add the remaining wine. Once the liquid has evaporated, add the peeled tomatoes and cook for about 10 minutes, adding salt and pepper to taste. Cover mixture with broth and let simmer slowly for about two hours.
Prepare the pasta: place the flour in a pile, make a depression in the middle and break the eggs into the depression. Add a little salt to the eggs, break the yolks and work them into the flour, until you have formed a compact ball. Let rest covered in a cool place. Then spread the mixture our very thinly, and, using a knife, cut the pasta into pappardelle, a kind of wide-cut tagliatelle. Let them dry and at the same time remove the pieces of meat from the sauce, de-bone and chop them (including the liver) not too finely. This is easier using a mezzaluna (half mooon shaped) or carving knive.
Cook the pappardelle, drain them, cover with the sauce, and serve sprinkled abundantly with cheese.

Notes:

This recipe will serve 6 people.

You can find this and other recipes in the book:
Maria Salemi, Florence - City gourmet guide, Nardini Editore
Click here for more information