Truffle & Sausage Tagliatelle

This dish is actually Tagliatelle alla Norcina, but I knew nobody would know what that actually meant so I created my own no-explanation needed name. This dish is traditionally from the Umbria region in southern Italy, famous for it’s pork meats and truffles. This dish is traditionally served with a tube like pasta such as a rigatoni pasta, but I love how the silky creamy sauce coats the tagliatelle too. I couldn’t find Norcia sausage in Ireland, so using high quality local pork sausage is essential. I wanted to sneak in some veggies into this dish too, so I added a packet of chestnut mushroom (ideally, I would have had a variety of mushroom such as porcini, chanterelles & chestnut).

Truffle is hard to get in regular supermarkets but I highly recommend purchasing some online. I always associate eating truffle with eating out, as I always order truffle dishes in Italian restaurants, but since we are in a lockdown I decided to order some off Truffle Hunter on Amazon and was surprised at how reasonable they were. Obviously some varieties were much more expensive than others, but I kept it simple and ordered some Truffle Salt & minced black truffles.

Ingredients

Serves 5 | 740 calories per serving

• 5 good quality pork sausages (I used Barry Johns Cracked Black Pepper variety, but any locally sourced high quality sausages will do)

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 onion, finely diced

• 200g mushroom, thinly sliced (I like porcini, chanterelles, chestnut)

• 2 tbsp butter

• 300ml dry white wine

• 200g Ricotta cheese

• 100g parmesan cheese, grated

• 500g Rigatoni / tagliatelle (depends if you want a pasta or long noodle meal)

• 2 tsp minced black truffle

• Truffle salt (optional) & pepper to taste

Method

1. Melt butter in a large skillet and when melted add the mushrooms, onion & garlic until liquid released and evaporated and veg is soft and reduced (about 10 minutes).

2. Take the casing off the sausages and crumble the meat with your hands. Add this to the skillet and cook sausage until browned (it’s ok if bottom of pan has some crumbled sausage stuck to it as we will be de-glazing the pan with wine).

3. Once browned, add the white wine. Stir together and simmer on a low heat with the lid on for about 10 minutes, until alcohol is evaporated and there is not much liquid left.

4. While this is simmering get your pasta water salted and boiling. Add your pasta of choice and cook according to packet instructions. (I used fresh pasta so mine cooked in only 4 minutes).

5. Add in your minced truffle and salt & pepper to taste and simmer for another 5 minutes.

6. In a separate bowl, mix together your grated cheese with the ricotta.

7. Add to your skillet until a thick creamy sauce is formed.

8. Right before you drain your pasta, add a ladle or 2 of starchy pasta water (you want a thick consistency but it should be saucy all the same, with some movement in the pan).

9. Drain your pasta and immediately add to the sauce. Stir until evenly coated.

10. Serve immediately as this dish does not reheat well! Make sure you have some crusty bread for dipping in the remaining sauce that remains in the bottom of the skillet, once all the pasta has been eaten!