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square pasta with sausage and with chopped chives sprinkled on top and grated Grana Padano cheese

Spicy Abruzzo Ventricina and Salsiccia Pasta (with Gold-Drawn Soqquadro Pasta)


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  • Author: Kelly
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 4 Servings 1x

Description

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


Ingredients

Scale
  • 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


Instructions

  1. Boil the pasta water. While you’re working on making the sauce, bring a pot of lightly salted pasta water to a boil. 
  2. 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.  
  3. Cook the pasta. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook to al dente according to packaged directions. 
  4. 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. 
  5. 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. 
  6. Finish the cream sauce. During the last 3 minutes of pasta cooking time, remove about 3/4 cup of starchy cooking water to a heatproof glass. Add about 1/4 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. 
  7. 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!

Notes

  • For a super garlicky creamy sausage pasta, don’t remove all of the garlic, but instead, smash the garlic into the sauce and allow it to “disappear” into the cream mixture. It’s rarely necessary to chop or mince garlic for pasta sauce recipes. I use the Italian way which is to smash it and allow it to perfume the sauce and remove it before serving, or just smash the softened cooked cloves into the sauce depending on what kind of sauce I’m making. It saves time and it keeps your hands from smelling like garlic.
  • Italian arrosti spice blend is similar to the taste of McCormick’s Poultry Seasoning spice blend, but they have a few marked differences. The main flavor difference you taste is that Arrosti has a bit more thyme and rosemary in the blend whereas poultry seasoning has a bit more sage and marjoram but it all evens out well enough that they can be used interchangeably in my opinion. Here are the ingredients of each spice blend as listed on the backs of their respective bottles:
    • Italian Arrosti spice blend:  rosemary 60%, sage 20%, bay leaf 5%, onion 5%, marjoram, and thyme.
    • McCormick’s Poultry Seasoning spice blend: thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, black pepper, and nutmeg.
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Category: Pasta
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: Italian

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1/4 recipe
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