Maccheroni alla Pastora, often known in South Tyrol as ‘Hirtenmakkaroni’, ‘Hirtenmaccheroni’ or ‘Hirtennudeln’, is a quick dish that can be adapted in many different ways. It combines Italian and Alpine cuisine and is often served in mountain lodges.
It is made with short tubular pasta, such as penne or rigatoni. The hearty sauce consists of minced beef and ham bacon – which shouldn’t be too fatty – onions and garlic, as well as mushrooms and peas.
You can prepare it with more or fewer tomatoes, depending on your personal taste. We only use tomato concentrate, but you can use passata di pomodoro or tinned tomatoes instead. Season with thyme, pepper and salt, and finish the sauce with cream and parsley. Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano adds umami.
Whilst the generously salted pasta water is heating up and you’re cooking the pasta al dente, prepare this sauce, starting with a little oil and chopped onion. A medium-high heat is best throughout. Once the onion is translucent, add the chopped garlic.
Spread the minced meat over this, then let it brown a little without stirring. Simply scatter the ham over the meat. However, if you’re using fatty bacon, you should add it to the pan first, before the onion.
Only after two or three minutes, once the minced meat has browned, do you turn it over and leave it to cook again. Once the meat has been fried until crumbly, push it to one side and add the sliced mushrooms to the empty space so that they release their liquid and their flavour intensifies.
Mix everything and make some space at the bottom of the pan again, this time to fry the tomato paste. If you’re using passata or tinned tomatoes instead, add them to the pan now.
Mix everything again and season with salt, pepper and thyme leaves. Oregano would be a good alternative. Now add the cream and peas to the sauce; for most of the year, these will be frozen. Never buy those awful tinned ones.
Before draining the pasta, add as much of the pasta cooking water to the sauce as is needed to achieve the desired consistency. Then mix the drained pasta thoroughly into the sauce. At this stage, we like to grate some cheese into the sauce, rather than just sprinkling it over the finished dish at the end.
We then season to taste, and it’s ready to serve.
Enjoy.
And may the taste be with you.
Ingredients (for 4 people):
360 g penne or rigatoni
2 tbsp olive oil
1–2 onions
2–3 garlic cloves
400 g minced beef
100 g bacon
2 tbsp tomato concentrate or 200 ml passata di pomodoro
200 g button mushrooms
100 g peas
4 sprigs of thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
200 ml cream
Pasta cooking water as required
Parsley to taste
Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano
