Tagliatelle Saporitissme

The name means 'most flavoursome' - because it has everything in it, mushrooms, fresh sausage - the lot. It adapts to either fresh or dry pasta.

Silvana says her family used to do this all the time in winter when the fresh sausage was available. The sausage would come from the local butcher made with pork, seasoning but no herbs and some white wine.

However, the actual ingredients of the 'saporitissime' would change from region to region, house to house. This version is simple and full of flavour.

Serves 6

Ingredients

600 grams dry tagliatelle
15 grams dried porcini
200 grams fresh pork sausage
20 grams carrots - not too much otherwise it becomes too sweet
10 grams white of leek, washed and shredded
1 stalk celery
250 grams fresh field mushrooms.,roughly sliced
50 ml olive oil
small bunch of chives chopped,
3-4 stalks of Italian parsley, roughly chopped
stalk of Chinese celery - roughly chopped
a few basil leaves
45 ml white wine
Pecorino cheese, grated - optional

Method

Soak porcini for 30 minutes.

Drain the porcini on a towel, Dry really well, then roughly chop them.

Heat a little oil, put the porcini in and turn. About a minute cooking quite fast in non-stick pan. Just seal on each side. This makes them slightly crisp. If porcini are not sealed, they will get a slimy texture when added to the other vegetables. The mixture should finish being fairly dry.

.Keep the water in which the porcini mushrooms are soaked. Filter the water and add this to the sauce because all the flavour of the dried porcini is in the water.

Fry the carrot, leek and celery in oil, add the sausage meat and break through the vegetables. Let cook about 5 minutes

Add mushrooms and toss through other vegetables but don’t cook too much

Add chives, parsley and Chinese celery plus a few basil leaves

Add a little bit of white wine

Cook the tagliatelle in rapidly boiling, salted water for approx 6 minutes

Put some of the porcini water into the sauce, then a tiny little piece of butter*

Toss the tagliatelle through the sauce Serve with a bit of grated cheese (preferably pecorino but you can use parmesan)

.

*Butter was used rarely in Molise when Silvana was growing up as it was very expensive, "a real luxury, so we didn't use much, but the little butter at the end seems to just finish off the flavour of this dish."