Linguine al Cocoa with Venison Ragu

This recipe. It’s venison ragu. On cocoa-infused spaghetti. Venison. Cocoa-infused spaghetti. The spaghetti is earthy and workable and tender, the venison rich and lean and just amazing.

Linguine al Cocoa with Venison Ragu

Serves 6.

For the soffritto:

• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 1/2 celery stalks, sliced
• 1/2 c. olive oil
• 1 1/2 tsp salt

For the linguine:

• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1 1/4 c. “00” durum flour
• 1 TBS plus 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 5 TBS warm water

For the ragu:

• olive oil
• 13 oz. ground venison, preferably shoulder meat (we couldn’t find any ground, so used finely chopped loin)
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 c. tomato paste
• 1/4 c. soffritto (recipe below)
• 1/4 tsp dried red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp chile oil (omit if unavailable)
• 1 1/2 c. red wine
• 1 1/2 c. chicken stock
• 4 sprigs thyme
• 1 sprig sage
• 10 whole black peppercorns
• 4 whole cloves
• 1/4 c. heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp quatre epices
• 2 c. baby spinach leaves
• 1 to 2 TBS butter
• Parmesan cheese, for serving

Make the soffrito:

1. Combine the carrot, onion, and celery in a food processor and pulse until very finely chopped. Heat olive oil in a large pan over low heat. Stir in the ground vegetables and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until all oil has been absorbed, about 45 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. This will make more soffritto than you need for this recipe – save the rest in the fridge for another use.

Make the linguine:

1. Sift together flours, cocoa powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and water. Slowly drizzle the liquid into the flour, whisking as you do. Knead the dough for several minutes – the dough will feel firm and dry. Flatten the dough into a rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap, and leave on counter for 30 minutes.
2. Roll out the dough using a pasta machine – roll it to the thinnest setting possible. Use the pasta machine to cut into linguine noodles (if you don’t have a noodle cutter attachment, you can cut out thicker noodles by hand). Toss the noodles with a little bit of flour to keep from sticking and set aside.

Make the ragu:

1. Heat a thin film of olive oil in a large sauce pot over medium-high heat. Stir in venison and brown well, cooking for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then add onion and garlic. Cook until onion is soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, soffritto, and red pepper paste. Cook for a few minutes, then add chile oil (if using), and red wine. Bring to a simmer and simmer for 30 minutes. Fill a sachet (or improvise with cheesecloth and cooking twine) with the thyme, sage, peppercorns, and cloves. Add the sachet and the chicken stock to the ragu and simmer to reduce liquid by half, about another 30 minutes. Stir in cream and the quatre epices. Simmer until thick and velvety, about 15 minutes. Season to taste. Remove the sachet.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When at a rolling boil, add linguine and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add noodles and about 1/4 c. of the pasta cooking water to the ragu. Add the spinach to the ragu. Cook for 2-3 minutes longer, just to wilt the spinach and cause the ragu to stick to the noodles. Finish with a pat of butter. Serve hot with grated parmesan cheese.