Penne alla Boscaiola, a rich-flavored dish, easy to prepare and also very quick, is a perfect dish to prepare for a family lunch, even for Sunday lunch, but thanks to its quick execution it is also perfect for a meal with friends, when you want to be in company, but don’t feel like spending too much time cooking. With a rich main pasta dish, you can make a good impression, satisfy the whole group without great effort. In fact, the time it takes to cook the pasta is enough to prepare the necessary sauce for penne alla boscaiola in a few minutes, but of course, you can use other types of pasta, like spaghetti or tagliatelle, maybe those good homemade egg ones. I know you don’t feel like putting in too much effort, but imagine the satisfaction of letting your guests taste a good pasta dish made with your own hands. Here is the recipe for homemade egg tagliatelle, and I’ll leave you to the recipe. At the end, you’ll find some tips for possible variations to enrich or change the taste to your liking, always respecting the pasta cooking times. So, enjoy your boscaiola pasta, and off to the kitchen.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients for Penne alla Boscaiola
- 10.5 oz penne rigate
- 1.75 oz guanciale
- 3.5 oz porcini mushrooms
- 7 oz ground beef or sausage
- 2 tbsp tomato paste or 3.5 oz of tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1 tbsp mascarpone, or 1.75 oz of fresh cream or parmesan to taste
- to taste olive oil
- to taste salt
- to taste chili pepper
- to taste chopped parsley
Tools
- 1 Pot
- 1 Pan
- 1 Ladle
- 1 Colander
Steps for Preparing Penne alla Boscaiola
Immediately put the water for the pasta on the stove, filling a large pot halfway. Bring to a boil and add the pasta to salted water, cooking al dente. Don’t discard the cooking water as we’ll need it to finish cooking the pasta in the sauce.
Meanwhile, prepare the sauce for our penne alla boscaiola. Slice the guanciale, remove the rind and any yellowed parts, then cut into strips.
In a pan, add a drizzle of olive oil, add the guanciale, and start to brown it. If you prefer, you can skip the oil, but I find it turns out better with a little oil.
To the guanciale, add the porcini mushrooms. I used porcini mushrooms I picked and froze during mushroom season, usually in the fall. I freeze them already cleaned and diced, so I can just take some from the bag and toss them into the pan still frozen. Let them flavor. If you want, add a little garlic, a whole clove, which you should remember to remove before adding other ingredients, or you can use a little garlic powder. I didn’t use any at all.
Once the guanciale and mushrooms are browned, add the ground meat or crumbled fresh sausage (with the casing removed). I used the meat for this dish, but often in Calabria, sausage is used, with Calabrian red sausage with ground red pepper, or ‘pipu pisatu’ in Calabrian dialect, which is not black pepper but dried, baked, and ground red pepper, the famous Lucanian crusco pepper, which is widely used and very popular here in Calabria.
Brown the meat well in the pan with the guanciale and porcini, then deglaze with white wine and let it completely evaporate.
At this point, if you like, add some chili pepper, the tomato sauce, or even better, 2-3 tablespoons of tomato paste, diluted in the pan with half a cup of water. Add a little salt, cover, and let it cook for a few minutes to flavor over low heat.
When the boscaiola sauce has thickened, add the mascarpone, or if you prefer, some fresh cream, or plenty of grated parmesan or grana cheese. Stir, add a little pasta cooking water, and create a delicious creamy sauce.
Drain the pasta al dente, and toss it in the pan with the sauce, adding more pasta cooking water if necessary. Ready to serve with a bit of chopped parsley.
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