Paccheri with Sausage, Tomato and Cream

La storia di questo piatto

Paccheri alla salsiccia, pomodoro e panna is a home-kitchen comfort rather than a dish with an ancient pedigree: wide Italian pasta, pork sausage, tomato and cream, meeting in one generous pan. It speaks of Sunday tables and of cooks who trust simple things, made abundant.

Ingredienti

• 400 g paccheri
• 300 g fresh pork sausage (with casing)
• 1 piece white onion
• 30 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 30 g coarse salt (for the cooking water, about 10 g per litre)
• 1 pinch fine salt (for the sauce, to be adjusted after tasting)
• 100 ml white wine
• 250 g tomato passata
• 150 g single cream
• 10 g fresh parsley
• 40 g grated Parmigiano Reggiano (20 g in the sauce, 20 g for tossing)
• 2 pinch freshly ground black pepper (1 pinch in the sauce, 1 pinch at the end)
• 1 pinch dried chilli flakes (optional, for a spicy note as in the traditional sausage variant)

Preparazione

1. Finely chop the white onion and let it soften in a wide pan with 3 tablespoons (30 ml) of extra virgin olive oil over medium-low heat: cook it gently until soft and translucent, without letting it colour too much.
2. Remove the casing from the sausage and crumble the meat with your hands directly into the pan with the soffritto. Raise the heat to medium-high and brown it, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until it loses its pink colour and develops a golden crust.
3. Deglaze with 100 ml of white wine and let the alcohol evaporate, stirring until the sharp aroma disappears.
4. Pour in the tomato passata, add 1 pinch of fine salt, 1 pinch of freshly ground black pepper, 20 g of grated Parmesan and, if you like it spicy, 1 pinch of dried chilli flakes (the sausage is already well seasoned: adjust the salt only after tasting). Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time: the sauce should reduce and darken slightly. After about 5 minutes of cooking the sauce, put a large pot with about 3.5 litres of water on the stove with the lid on: it will come to the boil just as the sauce finishes its 15 minutes.
5. When the water boils (the sauce has completed its 15 minutes), salt it with 30 g of coarse salt (about 10 g per litre) and add the paccheri. Immediately lower the heat under the sauce, add 150 g of single cream, stir well and let it cook gently, without boiling hard, while the pasta cooks: the sauce becomes velvety and binds well without separating. Cook the paccheri for about 12–14 minutes, that is 2 minutes less than the time on the packet (14–16 minutes). About 2 minutes before draining, scoop out and set aside a ladleful of cooking water.
6. Drain the paccheri while still quite al dente (2 minutes before the packet time) and transfer them to the pan with the sauce. Toss over high heat for 2 minutes with the remaining 20 g of grated Parmesan, stirring vigorously and adding a little of the reserved cooking water if needed to adjust the creaminess.
7. Turn off the heat, add the finely chopped fresh parsley (about 10 g) and 1 pinch of freshly ground black pepper, and stir once more. Serve immediately, piping hot.