Pasta Norcina

Actually, this isn’t Pasta Norcina. I have been calling it that for years, but looked it up when I began this collection and Pasta Norcina is somewhat different, involving cream, mushrooms, and sometimes walnuts. It sounds delicious and I urge you to try it. This dish, however, has a much different character. The two are related, so somewhere along the way it got confused. I can’t remember where I learned this, but I’ve seen it in Rome at cafeterias and pizzerias in large steam trays, served at room temperature. I usually eat it hot.

This is a tremendously simply dish to prepare. The only tricky part is that you have to work fast once the pasta has been drained – this is a dry pasta dish, meaning there’s no sauce to speak of, but the coating of olive oil and Parmiggiano needs to be created when the pasta is at its hottest. If you try to cook it, the oil in the cheese will separate and you’ll be left with an oily mess. Really the only way to get the consistency right is to toss all the ingredients right after the pasta has been drained, which is easy enough, it just means that you have to have everything prepared in advance.

I use my standard ratio of 4 sausages (1 lb) to 1 box of pasta. Short pasta, like mezzi rigatoni or conchiglie works best – something with enough crannies to catch the peas and chunks of sausage.

Ingredients:

• 2 Italian sausages (hot or sweet, as preferred)
• 8 oz short, thick pasta such as mezzi rigatoni
• 4 oz frozen peas
• 4 oz finely grated parmiggiano reggiano
• 2 tbsp + 1 TBSP top-quality olive oil
• Salt
• Coarsely ground black pepper

Directions:

Put a large pot of water on to boil. In the meantime, cook the sausages by heating a small pool of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and placing the sausages in the middle. Cover the skillet with a splatter screen if you like. Turn the sausages every 60 seconds or so until they’re evenly browned on all sides and 95% cooked through. It’s ok to cut one in half directly in the middle (crosswise, not lengthwise) to check. When they’re almost done, remove and wrap them in some tin foil, then set aside.

When the water has come to a boil, salt it generously and add the pasta. While it’s cooking, grate all of the parmiggiano and set aside in a bowl. When the pasta has a few minutes left, remove the sausages from the tin foil and slice into ½-inch rounds. When the pasta is about 30 seconds from being done, add the frozen peas and cook until heated through.

Drain the pasta and the peas. Shake vigorously in the colander three or four times so that very little cooking water is left. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the sausage rounds (and any juice that is left in the foil), the grated cheese, the olive oil, some salt, and a generous portion of black pepper. Working quickly, toss the pasta in the bowl as gently as possible. Try to flip the pasta in the bowl with one hand while gently turning the pasta over bottom to top with a utensil in the other hand. Don’t forget to scrape the utensil once or twice back into the bowl if cheese collects there. The cheese should all incorporate into the oil and should more or less disappear. If it’s way too clumpy, add small amounts of olive oil at a time till the correct consistency is achieved. Remember to work fast. Once the “sauce” is formed, the pasta can cool to room temperature and still be delicious, but it will be very difficult to form the sauce once the initial window has closed.

Serve at once with more cheese grated on top and enjoy.