Pasta with Salsiccia, Shallots and Sage
A take on a New York favourite (Frankies Spuntino’s flawlesss sausage cavatelli with brown butter). The key is to not let your butter burn and to manage the timing of your pasta right. Read through the recipe once or twice to get a sense of the rhythm. And no, there’s no other way to make this than with heaps of butter.
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1 lb (450g) or approx 4 nice large high quality Italian pork sausage - find the best quality you can here, ideally from a butcher or a nice farm. Avoid sausages mixed with other flavors, though if you must, a fennel seed would be nice.
1lb package of high quality orrecchiette, cavatelli or a small pasta shape that will hold the oily sauce nicely
⅔ stick unsalted butter
1 large shallot, chopped fine
Splash of nice, dry white wine
10-12 fresh sage leaves
1/2 tsp (2.5ml) ground white pepper
Several generous handfuls grated Pecorino Romano or Grana Padano (Parmesan works in a pinch, but the saltier cheeses work best)
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Put a large pot of water on to boil and add a few handfuls of salt.
Meanwhile, fill your widest saute pan with ½ cup (1.2dl) water and place the whole sausages (membranes on, not cut up) into the pan, simmering them in a single layer over medium heat for 10 minutes.
Flip the sausages over and simmer them for another 5 minutes (refilling the water if it threatens to boil off). After 15 minutes total, the sausages should be firm and cooked through, with a slightly unappetizing greyish color.
Remove the sausages to a cutting board and slice them into coins a few cms thick, but thin enough that they can get nice and crispy. Rinse the saute pan and dry it.
Add 1 spoon of the butter to the pan and turn the heat to medium-high. After the butter foams, add the sausage coins in an even layer and let them cook, unfussed with, until they’re deeply browned on the first side. If you need to do a few batches to maintain a single layer in the pan then do so. Flip and brown them on the other side. The browning is critical to the ultimate depth of flavor of the finished dish — don’t skip this step and you really can barely overdo it. When the sausage is browned, remove the sausage to a bowl and return the pan to the burner.
Turn the heat to medium, making sure your pan is not too hot and if so, take it off the heat for a moment before you add another spoon of butter. Add the chopped shallots, stirring them to coat in butter 1-2 minutes. Add the splash of wine and cook, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon until the brown bits come off and the alcohol cooks off.
At this point, add your pasta to the boiling water and cook, 4-5 minutes until al dente, while you proceed with the next steps.
Add the remaining butter and, once melted, add the sage leaves and a few twists of white pepper, stirring the leaves gently. After a minute or two, the butter should stop foaming and start to take on a light brown color, at which point you can reduce the heat a little bit. Add the sausage back to the pan and toss to coat.
Continue to cook the butter until it’s deeply browned and fragrant, about 3 minutes more, which should be just about how long the pasta takes to cook to a firm al dente. Make sure you’re not burning the butter or sage here, reducing your heat if needed.
Ladle a small scoop of pasta water into your pan and add your pasta directly into the pan, without having drained it too thoroughly. On a low-medium heat, stir to coat the pasta and and cook off the water, combining over very low heat for about a minute until you have a nice saucy consistency.
Add the cheese, stir again, and portion into bowls with a couple pinches of fresh cheese. Serve immediately.
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