Name: Spicy Abruzzo Ventricina and Salsiccia Pasta (with Gold-Drawn Soqquadro Pasta)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 12 ounces Verrigni soqquadro pasta (340g) (sub bronze-drawn mezze rigatoni, penne, or favorite pasta); 8 ounces Italian pork sausage (226g) (sub favorite sweet sausage or make your own); 4 ounces Abruzzo Ventricina salami, diced (113g) (sub spicy soppresatta or favorite spicy salami); 1/4 cup dry red wine (60g) (sub dry white wine, or Marsala wine); 1 small to medium onion, finely diced (200g) (sub shallot or leeks); 1/2 medium carrot, diced finely (100g); 1/2 cup heavy cream (100g) (sub half and half); 6 garlic cloves, smashed; 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (30g); 8 whole dried sage leaves (sub dried rubbed sage or fresh sage leaves); 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Italian "Arrosti" spice blend (0.3g) (sub McCormick's Poultry Seasoning); 2 small dried chili peppers crushed, or red pepper flakes to taste; salt and black pepper to taste; finely chopped chives for garnish (optional but recommended); Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese for garnish

Jump to Recipe

This lightly creamy spicy pasta recipe encompasses everything I want in a comforting bowl of pasta -- chewy artisanal Abruzzese Verrigni gold-drawn pasta (even more porous than delicious bronze-drawn pasta), Italian salsiccia, piquant Abruzzo Ventricina salami, garlic, herbs, onions, carrots, a little wine, and a splash of cream come together in one delicious standout dish in just 30 minutes. As always step-by-step recipe photos follow.

dry artisanal soqquadro gold-drawn Verrigni artisanal pasta closeup in a bowl

Italian pork sausage, cubed ventricina salami, tiny diced carrots, onoions, garlic, dried sage leaves sautéing in a cast iron skillet.

Italian pork sausage, cubed ventricina salami, tiny diced carrots, onoions, garlic, dried sage leaves sautéing in a cast iron skillet after being deglazed with red wine and a little heavy cream added turning the sauce a beautiful almost turmeric color.

Cooked pasta just added to the skillet with finished pork sauce.

Why This Spicy Pasta Recipe Works

This pasta recipe uses a handful of high-quality ingredients from Abruzzo, Italy to make this fall and winter-inspired pasta. It's toothsome and full of flavor, and couldn't be simpler to make.

I've used an Italian salsiccia (simple Italian pork sausage) that's made with a little garlic, salt, black pepper, and paprika. This is not the fennel-laced, spicy Italian sausage that probably comes to mind when you think "Italian sausage", but rather it's a fresh mild sausage that relies on the quality of the pork for its delicious flavor.
I've used a spicy artisanal Ventricina del Vastese salami from Abruzzo that adds a little heat and a whole lot of extra flavor including a bit of fennel, and sweet and spicy red peppers. This is one of our favorite cured salamis to eat (on or in anything especially as a pizza topping). It's one of Italy's premier preservative-free, cured meats that uses noble cuts of the pig. Learn more below about what makes Ventricina so precious.
Chewy artisanal gold-drawn pasta adds flavor and texture that's superior to regular commercial brand pasta and even more porous than our favorite bronze-drawn pasta which means it can soak up and hold onto even more sauce. For this recipe, I chose "soqquadro" pasta (which is a squatty square-shaped tube pasta with a rough ridged exterior). It's made by one of our favorite pasta makers in Italy, Verrigni Antico Pastificio Rosetano from the Abruzzo region (where L's family is from). They've been making pasta at Verrigni since 1898 and when you eat it, you'll understand why they're still in business.
Using extra virgin olive oil from an award-winning frantoio (olive mill) in Pianella, Abruzzo only adds to the deliciousness of this pasta and maintains a "what grows together goes together" theme making this pasta extra delicious.
As always, adding a little starchy pasta cooking water to the sauce towards the end of cooking helps revitalize the cream that gets soaked up by the sausage and helps makes the pasta creamy without having to add much actual cream at all. This results in a super delicious, perfectly glossy, smooth, and lighter, yet still creamy pasta sauce.

Juliis Timando Oleificio (Pianella, Italy)

Interior of the showroom part of the Juliis Timando olive oil mill in Pianella, Italy (Abruzzo region) — Showroom at Juliis Timando olive oil mill where you can buy amazing olive oil, handmade soap made from olive oil, olive tapenade, and lots of olive products -- Pianella, Abruzzo.

Inside the production room of Juliis Timando olive oil mill where they store the olive oil in big stainless steel tanks. — Inside the production room of Juliis Timando olive oil mill -- Pianella, Abruzzo.

Closeup of the type of extra virgin olive oil in one specific tank at Juliis Timando — An extra virgin olive oil tank in the Juliis Timando olive oil mill production room-- Pianella, Abruzzo.

Verrigini Antico Pastificio (Roseto degli Abruzzi, Italy)

Verrigni gold-drawn pasta in the bag — Verrigni Artisanal gold-drawn pasta in the bag

Outside view of the Verrigni Antico Pastificio Rosetano (Verrigni pasta factory in Roseto degli Abruzzi, Abbruzo, Italy. — Verrigni Antico Pastificio Rosetano (Verrigni pasta factory in Roseto degli Abruzzi, Abbruzzo, Italy.

Inside the Verrigni pasta store that's attached to the pasta factory.

sliced artisanal ventricina on a charcuterie board for antipasti

What is Ventricina or Ventricina del Vastese?

Ventricina is a cured (fermented) farmer's sausage that has historically been made without using any preservatives of any kind. It combines coarsely ground and cubed pork leg, shoulder, and the fatty and flavorful noble parts as well like pork belly, back fat, and the throat. Every butcher has their own recipe for seasoning ventricina, but the usual suspects include sweet peppers (or bell pepper powder), spicy ground pepper, wild fennel, and salt in the mix (and sometimes black pepper and garlic too).

Depending on what area of Abruzzo you're in, you may even find the fattier spreadable version called ventricina Teramana made with more fat, sweet peppers, black pepper, garlic, orange zest, and sometimes rosemary. Whatever the case, don't let the minimal amount of ingredients fool you -- this is one of the very best Italian salumi in the world.

Artisanal ventricina is intensely delicious, piquant, balanced, and rich with flavor because the best producers use local ingredients grown in the surrounding mineral-rich soil and use meat from free-roaming pigs who eat like kings (see the shops in photos below). The pork and spices are traditionally stuffed into a pig's bladder to form a large rounded oval (or stuffed into regular casings for longer thinner "logs"), then coated with lard, and hung in stone cellars for anywhere from 4 months and up to a year or more.

Macceleria Sapori D'Abruzzo (artisanal butcher shop in Pianella, Italy with salami and homemade sausages hanging and refrigerator cases full of delicious meat and specialty items — Artisanal butcher shop, Macceleria Sapori D'Abruzzo -- Pianella, Italy (Abruzzo)

artisanal Ventricina salami in the casing from Abruzzo, Italy on a plate showing the large pieces of strategically placed fat and marbled pork meat with its defining red color

Inside being helped by an older sweet Italian woman to pick up ventricina and guanciale (she has a scowl on her face, but that was only because she was trying to hear better). — Artisanal butcher shop, Azienda Agricola Masseria Di Mascio -- Loreta Aprutino, Italy (Abruzzo)

When made artisanally without the use of nitrites, nitrates, or any preservatives, ventricina is a precious cured meat because of everything that can go wrong to spoil it during the curing process. From start to finish, production must be done with the utmost care and precision because even the tiniest hole in the casing, or the fat and meat not being properly cut to the right size or compacted together the right way inside the casing, can all spoil the salami. Often another layer of lard is usually added after the salumi have been hanging for some months which helps avoid mold and any insects having contact with the meat.

As you can imagine, this is a labor-intensive salami that was once only made for special occasions like weddings, yearly harvests, the holidays, or made for the town priest. In recent history, this difficult-to-make salami was on the verge of extinction, but the Italian Slow Food movement has saved it and is reviving it. I'm incredibly fortunate that we're connected to Abruzzo through family because it's one of the great "food meccas" of the world (not just in Italy). This region of Italy is known as "The Golden Triangle" and has also been referred to as "Rome's store cupboard" or "Rome's pantry", for centuries so you can bet that you'll find some of the best food in the world here.

Abruzzo, Italy landscape with rolling hills dotted and specked with olive groves, vineyards, and a beautiful blue sky — August in Abruzzo, Italy where some of the best food products in the world are produced (it's beautiful even though it was an exceptionally dry year without much rainfall)

square pasta with sausage and with chopped chives sprinkled on top

Why We Love This Spicy Sausage & Salami Gold-Drawn Pasta Recipe

It's ready in 30 minutes
Ventricina and a little dried red chili add the perfect amount of spiciness to balance the cream
Wine intensifies the flavor of the sauce and brings out the flavor of the salsiccia and ventricina
A touch of cream adds richness to the sauce while sage and other herbs add warmth
The ingredients are versatile (you can use dry white wine, dry red wine, or even Marsala)
Perfect for anyone who loves creamy pasta but wants it to feel lighter
Artisanal gold-drawn Verrigni pasta adds great texture and soaks up even more sauce than regular pasta

Spicy sausage and ventricina pasta just after being tossed together and sprinkled with chopped chives

A Versatile Pasta Recipe (A Few Easy Substitutions You Can Make)

Depending on what you have in your pantry and whether or not you can even find some of these Italian specialty ingredients, I've outlined a few good substitutions to get a similar flavor profile for this pasta that will still taste great.

For the Italian salsiccia (sausage): Use a sweet Italian sausage (or even bratwurst meat in a pinch) removed from the casing, or simple fatty ground pork with a little added salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika. Or try a breakfast sausage like Neese's Country Sausage, or Neese's Hot Sausage (I learned about this preservative-free sausage from my sister and brother-in-law -- delicious!)
For the Abruzzo Ventricina: Substitute a spicy soppressata, salami piccante, or any spicy pepperoni-like salami, even a hard Spanish or Mexican chorizo will work.
For the Abruzzo gold-drawn pasta: Substitute a bronze-drawn pasta or other favorite rigatoni, penne, or tube macaroni pasta or egg pasta.
For the Italian "arrosti" spice blend: Substitute McCormick's poultry seasoning which has a somewhat similar taste.
For the heavy cream: Substitute half and half for heavy cream for an even lighter sauce.
For the onion: Substitute shallots or leeks for the onions if desired.

raw ingredients for the pasta assembled on a cutting board

Spicy Abruzzo Ventricina and Salsiccia Pasta Ingredients

There are just a handful of ingredients in this creamy pasta dish and as always I recommend using the highest quality you can find. But don't be afraid to make substitutions that work for your budget and whether or not you even have access to these Italian specialty ingredients.

Verrigni soqquadro pasta (sub bronze-drawn rigatoni, penne, or favorite pasta)
Italian pork sausage (sub sweet sausage or make your own) *see recipe notes
Abruzzo Ventricina salami (sub spicy soppresatta or spicy salami) *see recipe notes
dry red wine (sub dry white wine, or Marsala wine)
onion (sub shallot or leeks)
carrot
heavy cream (sub half and half)
garlic cloves
extra virgin olive oil
whole dried sage leaves (sub dried rubbed sage or fresh sage leaves)
Italian "Arrosti" spice blend (sub McCormick's poultry seasoning) *see recipe notes
dried red chili pepper or hot red pepper flakes to taste
salt
finely chopped chives for garnish (optional but recommended)
Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese for garnish

onions, carrots, garlic, whole dried sage leaves, and cubed ventricina salami sautéing in a cast iron skillet

onions, carrots, garlic, whole dried sage leaves, and cubed ventricina salami sautéing in a cast iron skillet with fresh sausage just added

How to Make Spicy Abruzzo Ventricina and Salsiccia Pasta (Spicy Sausage Pasta)

This is a super easy pasta recipe you can make in just 30 minutes which means past night can be any night of the week.

Boil the pasta water. While you're working on making the sauce, bring a pot of lightly salted pasta water to a boil.
Sauté the vegetables and aromatics. Add the olive oil, smashed garlic, and sage leaves to a large 12-inch skillet or sauté pan, and cook over medium-high heat until the garlic is blistered and fragrant. Add the carrots, onions, "arrosti" herb blend (or poultry seasoning), and season with salt to taste. Sauté the mixture for about 4 minutes or until the onions are translucent and tender. Add the ventricina salami and continue cooking for about 1 more minute. Add the sausage and hot chili peppers, season with salt (and black pepper if desired), and continue cooking the mixture for about 10 minutes or until the sausage is cooked through and slightly browned.
Cook the pasta. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook to al dente according to packaged directions.
Deglaze the pan with wine. Add the wine to the pan and use a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan (the fond) and stir to incorporate it. Set a timer for 3 minutes and cook until the wine has evaporated and the meat looks glossy. Remove the sage and garlic cloves from the sauce.
Add the heavy cream. Add the cream to the sausage mixture, stir to combine, season with salt to taste, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until it looks like the sausage has soaked up most (or all) of the cream. At this point, your pasta should be just about cooked through and the starchy cooking water is ready to be added to the sauce.
Finish the cream sauce. During the last 3 minutes of pasta cooking time, remove about ¾ cup of starchy cooking water to a heatproof glass. Add about ¼ cup to the sausage cream mixture and stir to incorporate it (or add it using a ladle). You'll notice the cream magically reappears and the sauce looks even more glossy from the starches binding to the fat in the cream. Add more starchy water as needed to reach desired sauce consistency stirring and cooking just until it looks smooth (not goopy or thick, nor too thin or watery). Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings.
Strain the pasta and assemble the pasta. Add the strained pasta directly to the sauce and toss everything quickly to combine and fully coat the pasta. Turn off the heat, add the chives, toss well, and serve immediately with a sprinkling of grated cheese, Enjoy!