Pronghorn Antelope Ragu

This is a hearty and uncomplicated wildgame meat sauce recipe that is full of flavor using simple ingredients. It can be paired with gnocchi or your favorite pasta and finished with a light dusting of grated parmesan cheese. You can also substitute the ground antelope for ground venison, elk or turkey.

Served 4

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground antelope
• 4 slices bacon chopped
• 6 large tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 large leeks diced
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon sage
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Cooked gnocchi or pasta

Directions

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Score skin of the tomato a few times and carefully add whole tomatoes to boiling water until skin starts to peel. Roughly 1-2 minutes. Remove from water with a spoon and plunge tomatoes in a bowl full of ice water. Remove peel and squeeze out the seeds. Roughly chop the tomato flesh and set aside.

Heat a large pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon oil, chopped bacon, leeks and garlic and cook for 4-5 minutes. Add ground antelope and cook until browned or 5-7 minutes. Stir in the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and red wine. Once the sauce starts to thicken add the chicken broth and season with sage, garlic powder, salt and oregano. Reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add the butter to the sauce just before serving.

You can serve this sauce over cooked gnocchi or your favorite pasta. I added the cooked gnocchi directly to the sauce and simply finished with grated parmesan cheese. ~Enjoy!