Pasta boscaiola

Typical for my blog recipes: another one that can be made in a simple or an extended version. The best thing about this dish is that it can be cooked in many ways, all tasty.

It is an autumn dish, but considering the weatherforecast for the coming up weekend you may be happy with this recipe.

Ingredients for the simple version:

• 3 spoons of olive oil extra vergine
• 2 sausages
• 250 grams of mushrooms (mixed)
• 1 onion
• 1 glass of dry white wine (I use Soave)
• fresh sage (or dried if you don´t owe a herbgarden)
• fresh thyme twigs (or dried)
• salt, pepper
• parmesan
• 300 gr. short pasta like pennette

Chop the onion. Clean the mushrooms with kitchen paper and cut them into slices.

Remove the skin from the sausages and cut the stuffing into pieces. Chop the sage. Leave the thyme as it is.

Heat the oil at middle heat. Fry the onion until light brown, add the mushrooms and fry them for a few minutes. Add the sausage stuffing and stir until light brown. Lower the heat, add the wine and turn up the heat again. Let it boil for a minute, then lower the heat.

Add the herbs, salt and pepper, cover the pan and let the sauce simmer at low heat.

Cook the pasta al dente and pour it.

Remove the thyme twigs from the sauce and mix the sauce with the pasta. Serve with grated parmesan.

For the extended version:

• The ingredients for the simple one, and/or:
• 50 grams pancetta or frying bacon, into small pieces
• 5 – 10 gr. dried porcini
• 100 g. cherrytomatos
• 10 black olives

Soak the porcini in lukewarm water for 10 minutes, squeeze them and cut them into pieces.

Follow the former recipe, but add the pancetta or bacon to the onions. Add the porcini with the mushrooms. Add the tomatos when adding the herbs. Don´t use salt then, the pancetta is sufficient.  

Add the olives right before serving.

For a vegetarian version:

Leave out the sausages and pancetta and use chopped tofu instead. If you like, you could marinate it for an hour in a mixture of olive oil, sage, oregano, salt and pepper.

Follow the recipe(s) as described.