Pasta Salsiccia e Birra

Today we’re making a quick, incredibly tasty and unusual pasta dish – ‘salsiccia e birra’, featuring Italian raw sausage and beer (as part of the dish, though it also makes an excellent accompaniment).

We’ll start by cutting some pancetta – today we’re using guanciale – or any other good-quality bacon into strips of a pleasing size.

Next, we peel onions and chop them into rather rustic cubes.

We only use the sausage meat from the salsiccie; the casing would not be pleasant to eat in this dish. To do this, cut the sausages in half lengthways and then simply peel off the casing. We also cut the sausage meat into pieces that are not too small.

We’ll also need some light-coloured beer that isn’t too bitter, cream, a bit of parsley and, if you like, some cheese – such as Parmigiano, Pecorino or Grana Padano.

First, fry the bacon and onions in a very little olive oil over a medium-high heat until translucent.

Before they brown, add the sausage meat and fry it for 3 minutes as well.

We then pour the beer into this and let it reduce until only about 10 per cent of the liquid remains. The key here is the flavour the beer leaves behind. The alcohol will have evaporated by then. We also season with some black pepper.

Only now do you add the cream.

Caution: Bacon and salsiccia are already very salty, and the beer makes them even saltier. So under no circumstances should you add any more salt at this stage!

Once again, we let the whole thing reduce until our sauce has a creamy consistency. If you like, you can now add a little lemon zest for a touch of freshness.

When the sauce has reached your desired structure, add some freshly chopped parsley as the final touch. It shouldn’t boil any further, so take the pan off the heat now. At this stage, we’re already grating cheese into our sauce.

Cook the pasta at the same time; for this dish, as an exception, use water with very little salt. Check the texture two minutes before the cooking time stated on the packet; that way, you’ll easily find the ‘al dente’ point (the bite of the pasta) that suits your taste.

Before serving, the pasta is tossed with the sauce so that it clings to the pasta well and the pasta absorbs the flavour. Pasta doesn’t have to be served piping hot, but it must form a harmonious whole with the sauce – spreading the pasta onto plates and then just pouring the sauce on top is a cardinal sin.

Enjoy.

And may the taste be with you.

Ingredients (for 4 people):

400 g durum wheat pasta (‘pasta secca’) – we recommend the casarecce shape

1 tbsp olive oil

120 g pancetta or guanciale

1–2 onions

300 g salsiccia

200 ml light beer (lager, not too bitter)

200 ml cream

Optional: a little lemon zest

Parsley

To taste: a little Parmigiano, Grana Padano or Pecorino

Freshly ground black pepper

Note: Be very careful with salt – this dish requires almost no extra salt!