fileja con salsicce e funghi
fileja with sausage and mushrooms
I only discovered the Calabrian Fileja pasta shape a few years ago, but it’s become a real favourite. Half way between long and short pasta shapes, the 10cm long fileja cook down into a floppy, robust pasta that you can really get your teeth into. In Calabria it’s normally served with sauces based on minced pork and tomatoes, or with the equally amazing calabrian ‘nduja sausage.
Fileja are one of the less common pasta shapes but definitely worth tracking down if you feel stuck in a rut or need some inspiration for your pasta dishes. If you can't find them, an alternative is CASARECCE, which are quite a bit shorter but a lot easier to find in the shops!
NB The fileja I’m currently buying in London are from Delizie Vaticane di Tropea, who also produce incredible n’duja.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO
(scroll down for the full method)
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clean and slice the mushrooms, remove sausage meat from casings
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cook a basic tomato sauce with garlic and EVO
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cook the mushrooms and sausage meat
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boil the pasta
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combine the sauce and pasta
fileja with sausage and mushrooms
INGREDIENTS
(4 people)
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400g flat or chestnut mushrooms
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sausage meat from 6 sausages
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2-3 large cloves garlic
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one can of good quality tomato polpa (Mutti)
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white wine, oregano to taste
PASTA
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400g fileja (Delizie Vaticane)
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(alternatively CASARECCE)
MANTECATURA
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light to very moderate
METHOD
Slice the mushrooms and cook in a splash of white wine, half a crushed garlic clove and a sprinkle of oregano on a medium heat. Allow them to soften and the wine to evaporate, then turn the heat up slightly and allow them to colour / become golden, but not burn! If you have any chunks of burnt garlic in the pan, fish them out, they'll be very bitter.
At the same time as cooking the mushrooms, get the insides of 6 sausages (no skin) frying in one EVO, and another half crushed garlic clove. When the meat's all changed. colour, turn up the heat and add a splash of white wine. Let the wine evaporate and then let the sausage take on some colour and light crisp, but don't burn it. You can drain away any excess fat if you like.
When the sausage is cooked set it aside.
Make a basic tomato sauce with a tin of gold quality tomato polpa and a crushed clove of garlic. Put half a tablespoon of EVO in a non-stick pan or sauce wok and heat to a moderate heat. Add the crushed garlic and allow to sizzle (not burn!) for no more than 60 sec, then pour in the polpa. Allow the sauce to reduce (stirring regularly) for about 10 mins. At that point put the water for the pasta on to boil, and add the sausage and mushrooms to the tomato sauce. Allow it to simmer on a low heat while you cook the pasta.
When the fileja just pass the 'al dente' stage, transfer them into the pan with the tomato sauce and let them finish the cooking there, probably only for a minute or two, if you've timed the pasta cooking correctly! Toss the pasta and sauce together to combine from time to time and then serve immediately with grated pecorino and ground cayenne pepper.
NUTRITION PER SERVING
KCAL: 501
Fat: 20g
S/Fat: 6.7
Carb: 40.7g
Sug: 5.7g
Fib: 3.3g
Prot: 26.1g
Salt: 1.27g
