Last May Shaun and I took a vacation to Italy. We spent 10 days there traveling to Venice, Florence and Rome. It was so serene there to say the least. Everyone has a different mentality than in the US and it’s a slower paced system. You know the saying, “We live to work and they work to live.” It’s about wine at dinner, fresh bread, fresh vegetables and fruits from the local market or vendor, gelato, history, walking and just breathing the fresh air.
Unfortunately this Summer we knew we couldn’t afford to go overseas again so we ventured a little closer to home. We drove 3 hours to stay outside of San Antonio at the JW Marriott in the Hill Country. I had been a couple years back but wanted to bring Shaun and Olivia this go around. We also extended the invite to my family just to have some bonding and healing time. My mom is still improving each and every day and we will know more on her upcoming appointment in the next couple of weeks.
This hotel might not be in Italy but it is absolutely gorgeous. The reasons we picked this hotel was because it’s close to all of our homes, it sits between the rolling hills of the hill country, spa and a HUGE water-park. I can’t wait to give you the full review of this hotel. Shaun and I love to travel even with a little baby. I will start to incorporate travel reviews on this blog just for anyone who likes to travel.
While we are soaking up the sun in the Hill Country I decided to share a wonderful pasta dish that reminded me of our trip to Italy this past Summer. One night Shaun and I devoured a huge plate of homemade pappardelle pasta covered in a wild boar tomato sauce. Not sure why we haven’t made this dish sooner but I finally got around to it this last week and it won’t be our last time to make it.
Heat a skillet over medium heat.
Cook the sausage until brown and crumble into bite size pieces. Drain the fat out of the pan. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic salt and oregano and cook for 30 minutes on low.
Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and plate the pasta. Pour the sauce over the top of the pasta and top with basil and pecorino romano cheese.
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I absolutely love this. We have a lot of family in Italy that we’ve luckily gotten to see a few times over the past 10 years and while there have been great meals each and every time, the one that sticks out in my head the most is from our first trip there when we had Cinghiale (wild boar) over homemade pappardelle. My uncle caught the boar that morning and my 80 something year old great aunt made the pasta from scratch. It was just an unbelievable meal 🙂 I’ve never attempted it at home so I think I need to try your version out!
Oh wow I think it’s way better when you have it that fresh. So jealous I didn’t have that type of experience.
holy moly. That looks divine!
Thanks Carrian!
I want to go to Italy sooooooooooo badly!!! It just sounds perfect, mmm 🙂
And omg this pasta looks like pure perfection-bellisima!
Thanks Kayle! Maybe in the future we can plan a huge bloggers trip to Italy. Pasta and wine who wouldn’t want in?!?
I think I might need two plates of this! You know, since baby watch requires extra carbs
Haha I agree! Too bad I actually need to start focusing on losing some of this weight.
This sounds wonderful!!! And your photos are so beautiful!
Thanks Ali!
Mmmmm anything that even makes me feel like I’m in Italy is a total win! I could go for a big ol’ bowl of this!
I agree!
Whoa. Like wild boar, whoa. Dang girl, this looks amazing!!
Dang girl thanks!
Looks amazing!!! Never tried wild boar but sign us up!
You definitely need to try it!
This sounds perfectly amazing! If I closed my eyes, maybe I’d even think I was in Italy??
Pour yourself a glass of wine and it will make the experience even better.
Ohhh I can picture this using ground venison! Love it Meagan!
Thanks Laurie!
Gorgeous photos I could totally go for a huge plate of this!
Thanks Julie!
Whoa! This is gorgeous! Your photos are awesome and the recipe is to die for! You just made me very hungry!
Thanks Tieghan.
I’d love to try wild boar (preferably in Italy!). Thank you for sharing this!
Ohhh how I love Italy. We went last year, too and I’m yearning to go back! I can say that I never tried boar during our trip but I would totally try it just the way you have it prepared!
Loved this dish. I followed the recipe as given except I only had 1 lb of wild boar so I used half beef. Excellent. I cannot understand how it could be failure unless one went wildly off course with recipe.