The Salsiccia must be the queen of italian sausages.

Raw, made of pork, a little bit sour in taste and rather salty, the Salsiccia turns out to be a very versatile sausage. It is available in a variety of different flavors: rosemary, porcini, fennel, chili or simply natural. Here in Sweden there is a number of producers and you can get this sausage even in our small supermarket in the countryside.

The Salsiccia can be grilled, boiled or pan fried. Add a slice of dark bread and Dijon mustard and my umami heart sings.

 

Or you can use it as an ingredient in different dishes. Peel off the skin and use it then like mince, or cut it in slices or dices.

A good example is my “Risotto con Salsiccia”: peel the Salsiccia and cut the meat into dices, poach the dices in a small pot in white wine for a few minutes. Put aside and cook a classic risotto. Instead of the last ladle of fond, I add the boiled sausage (including the wine) and let the risotto soak up this last liquid. As soon as the risotto is “creeping”, add butter and parmesan, let it rest for a few moments and then serve. Be careful with the salt: the Salsiccia itself is usually quite salty and that is why I never add salt to this risotto. I serve it with rucola or any other slightly bitter lettuce.

 

I use a piece of Salsiccia in all classic italien sauces like Bolognese sauce or Lasagne and I pan fry it together with rest of the mince. That adds an extra fine flavor.

Right now, my favorite pasta recipe is this one:

“Tagliatelle Carbonara ‘al Salsiccia”:

Ingredients for 2 (main) or 4 (starter) persons:

• 250 gr. Tagliatelle
• 300 gr. fresh Salsiccia
• 1 table spoon olive oil
• 2 table spoon finely chopped rosemary
• 250 gr. cherry tomatoes, cut in halves
• salt and pepper
• 3 egg yokes
• 200 ml finely grated parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package. Strain, but spare about 100 ml of the boiling water for later.

Peel the Salsiccia and cut in pieces about the size of a teaspoon or press the meat out of the skin. Pan fry the meat in olive oil until the sausage gets a little bit of color. Add rosemary and tomatoes and fry for another 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, but again: be careful with amount of salt.

Add the strained pasta to the meat and mix well.

Mix the egg yokes, parmesan and the water from the pasta in a big bowl. Add the pasta with meat to the bowl and mix all the ingredients really well.

Serve with ice-berg lettuce or rucola.

In my opinion, this is one of the best pasta dishes of all times and it is very easy and quick to prepare. Even Emil loves this pasta so much that he always empties the plate!

Have fun with the Salsiccia and be creative with it!