Pasta with sausage and porcini mushroom ragù, one of the classic dishes you can enjoy in Calabria, but you can also prepare it at home. It takes very little to make and can be prepared any day of the week, without having to wait for Sunday lunch to enjoy a hearty first course. For the recipe, I used simple penne rigate, but fusilli or excellent homemade pasta, like Calabrian maccheroni, often called fileja, are also great. For the recipe, you can’t miss, at least in my house, Calabrian sausage, the red sausage with wild fennel, but I assure you that you’ll enjoy a great dish even with another type of tasty sausage. Of course, for good mushroom ragù, you need wild porcini mushrooms. I gather them personally, and if I find plenty, I freeze them, already cleaned and ready to cut, so even when I come back empty-handed from mushroom hunting, I can enjoy my delicious pasta with porcini and sausage ragù. So, let’s head into the kitchen to prepare it, and feel free to use the sausage from your area and the porcini mushrooms you can find, fresh or frozen, the important thing is that they are quality ingredients.
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- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Fall, Winter, and Spring
Ingredients for pasta with sausage and porcini mushroom ragù for 2 people – double for 4
- 5.6 oz penne rigate
- 5.3 oz porcini mushrooms
- 7.05 oz Calabrian sausage
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 3.4 fl oz white wine
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 chili pepper
- to taste parsley
- to taste salt
- to taste olive oil
- 1 oz Parmesan or Grana cheese
Tools to prepare pasta with porcini mushroom and sausage ragù
- 1 Pot
- 1 Pan
- 1 Colander
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Glass
Steps to prepare pasta with sausage and porcini mushroom ragù
1. Place a pot of water on the stove for the pasta, and while bringing it to a boil, prepare the sausage and porcini mushroom ragù.
2. In a pan place a clove of garlic in its skin, crushed, with olive oil and a chopped chili pepper. Heat and add the porcini mushrooms cut into pieces on a cutting board. I used slightly thawed frozen ones, which I took out just a few minutes before from the freezer, and of course, they were already cleaned. If you have fresh mushrooms, remove the base with soil, and wash them before cutting.
3. Let the mushrooms brown in the pan with a pinch of salt, and when they are well browned, add the sausage removed from the casing and crumbled. Let it brown for a few more minutes.
4. When the porcini mushrooms with the sausage are well browned, deglaze with white wine and let it evaporate completely, keeping the flame at medium.
5. Now add the tomato paste to the pan, along with a bit of water, so that the ragù cooks for a couple more minutes.
6. Meanwhile, the pasta water will have come to a boil, salt it and drop the pasta, cooking it al dente, draining it without discarding the cooking water.
7. Finish cooking the pasta in the pan with some pasta cooking water, let it mix well, and finally add the Parmesan. If needed, add a bit more water to obtain a nice creamy sauce that coats the pasta. Let it blend in and turn off the heat.
8. Add chopped parsley with the heat off and serve; your pasta with sausage and porcini mushroom ragù is ready to be enjoyed.
