Pasta with salsiccia, mushrooms, courgette and mascarpone
Recipe for creamy pasta with salsiccia (fresh Italian sausage), mushrooms and mascarpone, with sun-dried tomatoes, Parmesan and basil.
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
- 500 g pasta
- 300 g salsiccia - fresh Italian pork sausages
- 70 g sun-dried tomatoes, drained weight
- 200 g mushrooms (button or chestnut), sliced
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 1 courgette
- 3 cloves garlic, grated or crushed
- 200 ml white wine
- 200 g mascarpone
- 50 g Parmesan, finely grated
- 1 handful fresh basil leaves
- Salt and pepper
- Oil
- A little pasta water, if needed
- Chilli flakes and fresh basil, to serve
Instructions
- Halve the courgette lengthways, scrape out the seeds and cut it into slices.
- Heat a little oil in a frying pan and squeeze the sausage meat out of the casings into the pan in fairly large chunks.The sausages contain quite a lot of fat, so start by heating just a tablespoon of oil – you can always add more.
- Fry the meat over a good high heat for 5-8 minutes. If it releases a lot of fat, I prefer to pour some off, but that is up to you.
- Add the mushrooms and continue frying over a high heat until the mushrooms are well browned.
- Turn the heat down to medium and add the onion, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and courgette, fry for a couple of minutes more, then season with salt and pepper. I like to keep back a small handful of courgette and stir it through the dish for the last 3 minutes of cooking; that way it keeps a pleasant bite and a lovely colour. But do as you prefer.
- Pour in the wine and let it reduce a little, then add the mascarpone, Parmesan and basil leaves.
- Let the sauce simmer over a low to medium heat while you cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.
- Drain the pasta and toss it through the sauce, adjusting the consistency with a little of the pasta water if needed, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve topped with freshly chopped basil, freshly ground pepper and a pinch of chilli flakes, if you like.