Creamy Truffle Pasta..

Someone – I’ve narrowed it down to one of two pals – (Liz? Therese?) gave me some lovely Salame al Tartufo Estivo – Italian sausage with Truffle, to the rest of us – for Christmas this year, and so this latest recipe was born. It’s mostly all made in one pot, which is always good news in my book..

This is a really rich dish with a very grown-up flavour. It might be too much for the kids. To make it a little more universal, you could change the type of sausage you use.  However, if you have a bunch of foodies coming round, this might well be the very job..

EQUIPMENT:

• A large stove-top casserole – mine’s a cast-iron one
• small frying pan

INGREDIENTS: I’d say this would feed 4-6 lucky people..

• 100g Italian sausage with Truffle – or your choice of sausage – cut into smallish pieces.
• 10 thin rashers of rindless unsmoked streaky bacon, chopped.
• 2 chicken breasts, cut into very fine slivers
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 green chilli, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 125g mini Portobello mushrooms, finely sliced
• splash of red wine (isn’t there always   )
• 1 litre of chicken stock
• Juice of half a lemon
• 250g pasta shapes – I used Fusilli
• 2 heaped dessertspoons of Mascarpone
• handful of breadcrumbs
• zest of a lemon
• Some finely chopped parsley (or a teaspoonful of dried, if you’re stuck)
• Freshly grated Parmesan, to serve

METHOD:

• Put the casserole over a medium heat
• Add the sausage and bacon. Allow to soften and release some oil. Stir, in case anything sticks.
• Add the chopped onions, the mushrooms and the wine, and stir. Cook gently for 5 minutes.

• Add the chilli and garlic
• Add the chicken pieces
• Stir well until everything is amalgamated, and the chicken has started to cook
• Add the litre of stock, and the pasta and stir in.

• Season with pepper only
• Squeeze in the lemon juice.
• Reduce the heat a little, half-cover the pot and leave to bubble gently for 5-10 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked al dente, or to your liking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Just before serving, stir in the Mascarpone.
• In a dry frying pan, quickly toast the breadcrumbs until crispy, then add the lemon zest.
• Using a ladle, put the pasta into serving dishes, then sprinkle the breadcrumb mix over.
• Hand the Parmesan separately. We had some garlic flatbread with this today, it’s good for mopping up the juices.

NOTES:

• The sauce is rather thin in this dish, even with the Mascarpone, but it thickens as you add the breadcrumbs and Parmesan, so don’t be tempted to add flour to thicken it.
• It is a rich dish, so slightly smaller portions are required.