Maccheroni alla Pastora

Pasta dressed with raw ricotta loosened in its own cooking water, with crumbled sausage.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pecorino whose rennet the source does not name, pork, ricotta whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

• 400 g short pasta, such as cavatelli
• 300 g sheep's ricotta
• 300 g pork sausage, skinned and crumbled
• 60 g pecorino, grated
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• black pepper

Method

1. Fry the crumbled sausage in the oil over a medium heat for 8 minutes, breaking it up, until browned in places. Keep the fat in the pan.
2. Beat the ricotta in a warmed bowl with pepper and a pinch of salt.
3. Cook the pasta in well-salted water.
4. LOOSEN THE RICOTTA WITH LADLEFULS OF THE PASTA WATER, two or three, whisking to a smooth cream. THE RICOTTA IS NEVER COOKED and never put on the heat — warmed above a certain point it splits into grains and water, and this is a shepherd's dish precisely because it needs no second pan.
5. Drain the pasta and turn it through the ricotta cream, then fold in the sausage and its fat.
6. Finish with pecorino and more pepper, and serve at once before the ricotta tightens.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes