Today we are serving a quick-to-prepare, extremely tasty and unusual pasta – “salsiccia e birra”, i.e. with Italian raw sausage and beer (as part of the dish, but it also makes a great accompaniment).
We start by cutting some pancetta or otherwise nice bacon into strips of a pleasant size.
Then we peel onions and cut them into not too small pieces as well.
We only use the sausage meat from the salsicce, the skin would not be enjoyable later if prepared in this way. To do this, cut the sausages in half lengthwise and then simply scrape the filling from the skin with the back of your knife.
We also need some light, not too bitter beer, cream, pepper and – if desired – a little herb. Parsley is often used, but today we opt for a small amount of sage.
Fry the bacon slowly so that the fat can render out. You do not need oil for this.
Before the bacon starts to brown, we add our onions and fry them until translucent.
Now we add some coarsely chopped garlic (optional) and the sausage meat plucked into pieces with our hands.
We now pour the beer onto it and let it boil down until there is only about 10 % of the liquid left. We are all about the taste that the beer leaves behind. The alcohol has then also evaporated.
Only when the beer has largely evaporated, add the cream.
The only seasoning needed is pepper. The bacon and salsicce are usually salty enough.
When the sauce has taken on your desired consistency, add the herbs. They should not be cooked for much longer.
You cook the pasta alongside, in heavily salted water. It should be as salty as the sea. Check the consistency two minutes before the cooking time indicated on the packet, then you will easily find the point of “al dente” (the firmness of the pasta) that you like best.
We like to serve such dishes in a large bowl that everyone can help themselves from. But always let the pasta “taste” the sauce for a few minutes before serving, as they say: pour the sauce over the pasta, then keep lifting the sauce and pasta from the bottom with two large spoons until everything is well mixed (just as you would mix salad with dressing), and give everything around 2 minutes to combine nicely.
Ingredients (for 4 people):
400 g semolina pasta (“pasta secca”) – we recommend the Casarecce shape
120 g pancetta or bacon of your choice
1 – 2 onions
1 – 2 cloves garlic
300 g salsiccia
200 ml light beer (lager, not too bitter)
200 ml cream
Herbs of your choice, parsley or sage
If desired: some Parmigiano, Grana Padano or even Pecorino (optional)
Salt and pepper, that’s all you need
Enjoy.
And may the taste be with you.
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