Dried porcini – small bag
1 lb. penne or rigatoni
5 sausages – spellato (peeled; removed from the casing) and sbriciolato(crumbled) – sbriciolato is a great word – just say it a few times.
Olive oil
2 eggs
heavy cream – a bit, if you like
salt
pepper
nutmeg
grated parmigiano
grated pecorino
truffle paste - 3 tablespoons or so – or a fresh truffle to grate over
(if you can’t find truffle paste near you, you can order it from
Buonafide Foods http://www.buonafidefoods.com
1. Put the dried porcini in 2 cups of hot water to soften; drain them
through a paper towel, save the liquid; dry and rough chop the porcini;
2. Put on pasta water to boil;
3. Brown the crumbled sausage in 4 tbsps olive oil; add the porcini and
sizzle in some mushroom juice to scrape of the bits of sausage stuck to
the pan. Keep warm;
4. Beat the eggs well (sbattere is the Italian word for beat – when they want you to beat it well, they just say the word twice – sbattere sbattere); add a good grating of nutmeg, salt and pepper; add one
large handful of parmigiano and one of pecorino – combine well (in Italian recipes una mancia (a handful) is an official measurement – maybe three-quarters of a cup).
5. Cook the pasta al dente; drain and add to the pan with the sausage and porcini; toss well;
6. Add the egg and cheese mixture off-heat and combine very well. Add a
little cream if you think it needs it (I didn’t last time I made it);
7. Add the truffle paste and continue to combine well;
8. Serve with extra grated cheeses and fresh-ground pepper.
- Courtesy of Michael Tucker