Pasta with sausages and chestnut white sauce is perhaps one of the most autumnal first courses. A traditional and hearty dish but very particular and certainly substantial. Though, it is very simple to prepare, you may need to give some more attention when pealing the chestnuts. For this sauce, I used Paccheri organic pasta, but any short pasta shape is fine, even wholemeal.
So, let's make and enjoy this Autumnal recipe with a glass of red wine!
For 2 people:
160/180g Paccheri pasta
180g plain Italian sausages
140gr Chestnut
120ml
1 garlic clove
EVO (extra virgin olive oil)
1 fresh rosemary spring
4 bay leaves
salt
black pepper
Parmesan cheese
In a small saucepan, place the chestnuts and water, enough to cover them.
Cook it on a medium heat for half an hour or until they are tender. Check them with a fork and when soft you can remove the pan from the heat.
Drain the chestnuts and when cold, peel and crumble them with your hands to get different sizes of pieces.
In a large saucepan, start to boil the water with salt where later you will cook your pasta.
In another large pan, add 4 spoons of EVO, garlic and bay leaves on a medium heat. When the garlic starts to fry, add the sausages without the skin and smash them with a fork until you get a sausage ragu and fry for a few minutes until it starts to become golden brow
Now, over a high heat, sauté and blend with the wine and rosemary for a few minutes or until evaporated.
Add the chestnuts crumbles and taste for salt and pepper. Keep in mind, Italian sausages should already be seasoned with salt and pepper, so taste before adding more.
Remove from the heat and start to cook the pasta.
A few minutes before the pasta cooking time, place the saucepan back to high heat, add some ladles of pasta water and the drained pasta. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese and quickly turn the pasta with the help of a spatula finishing the cooking in the sauce.
This blends the sauce to a creamy texture and helps to mix all together. Add extra ladles of pasta water if the pasta needs to be cooked a bit longer.
TIP: Don't dry the sauce and don't overcook the pasta, keep al dente. What you want is a creamy looking sauce!
You can decorate with more fresh rosemary, EVO, black pepper to your taste and extra parmesan cheese on top.
Red, white or beer can accompany your delicious Paccheri with chestnut and sausages sugo "Bianco"!
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