Marinated wild boar (Agriogourouno se marinada)

A festive Christmas dish

1 kg wild boar meat, cut into chunks, or 1 ½ kg wild boar cutlets

1 large onion, sliced in rings

1 large carrot, peeled and diced

¼ celery root, peeled and diced

1 bottle dry red wine

juice and peel of one organic orange

2 sprigs thyme, 2 sprigs rosemary, 2 bay leaves, 4-5 cardamom pods, about 20 peppercorns,

½ cup butter

2 tomatoes, peeled and diced

½ cup cognac (Metaxa 3 stars)

salt and pepper to taste

 

In a large bowl, place the meat, onion, carrot, celery root, herbs and spices. Slice the orange peel thinly and add with the orange juice to the meat. Cover with the red wine and leave to marinate 24 hours in a cool place, or in the fridge.

Drain the meat, reserving the marinade. Heat butter in a large pan and brown the meat. Add tomatoes and the marinade and simmer on very low heat for about 2 hours. Check occasionally to make sure there is enough liquid, adding water if necessary. When the meat is done, remove it from the pan. Strain the sauce and return it to the pan along with the meat. Heat to boiling, add cognac. If wished, add some cream to the sauce, or alternately, thicken the sauce by adding some cold water into which a bit of maizena or flour is dissolved.

Serve with oven-baked potatoes and/or quince.