strascinati alla Diddly Squat
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strascinati with pork shoulder in a black garlic & mushroom sauce
Strascinati are like large, oval shaped orecchiette and have their origins in the Puglia and Basilicata regions of Italy. I’m lucky enough to be able to buy them pre-prepared and fresh from a local delicatessen. If you can’t get hold of them, use fresh or dry orecchiette, or even fresh trofie.
This recipe came about when I received a recent first purchase of Hawkstone Cider, which is a clear, fruity cider from the team behind Diddly Squat Farm. It’s a reasonably simple dish but does involve quite a few different steps.
I’m a fan of most kinds of ciders, and whilst I normally go for a robust, oaky flavour, I am finding that Hawkstone is getting, as their own strapline says, easier and easier to drink. It’s also very good for pairing with certain ingredients, as I’ve done here.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO
(scroll down for the full method)
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rehydrate the dried porcini (min 45mins)
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chop and cook the fresh mushrooms
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grate some pecorino, crush pistacchio kernals
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cook the re-hydrated porcini
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make the black garlic and mushroom sauce
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cook the pork shoulder, slice it up, re-fry
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fry some fresh sage leaves
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boil and cook the pasta
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combine the sauce and pasta, adding the pork
strascinati with pork shoulder in a black garlic & mushroom sauce
INGREDIENTS
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250g white mushrooms
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30g dried porcini
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550g pork shoulder steaks
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black garlic purée
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3 medium garlic cloves
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fresh sage leaves
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dry oregano
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Hawkstone cider
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4 tblspns pistacchio kernels
PASTA
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400g fresh strascinati
(Martimucci) / orecchiette
MANTECATURA
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none to slight
METHOD
Begin by making the mushroom sauce. Start by reconstituting the dried porcini - this will take about 45 minutes and a few changes of boiling water. Once the mushrooms are rehydrated, squeeze them, set them aside, then filter the mushroom liquor to remove any grit. Keep the liquor for use later.
Fry some sliced white mushrooms in EVO, garlic, a pinch of dry oregano, a handful of pinoli and a splash of cider. Season and let the cider evaporate and then carry on until the mushrooms begin to pick up some colour. Set them aside. In a separate pan, give the porcini the same treatment - cooking them separately means you can give both types of mushroom different cooking times, if need be.
Once you’ve cooked both types of mushrooms, take about 2/3rds the total amount and blend with some EVO, a tablespoon of pecorino and 2 tablespoons of black garlic purée to make a finely chopped sauce. Add some of the mushroom liquor if you need to loosen it up a bit.
Next, cook the pork shoulder (but first get the water boiling for the pasta while you do the next step). I like to use heavy, cast iron pans for steaks of meat, and I start by rubbing them with olive oil and getting them very, very hot.
Season the pork shoulder steaks well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. After a few minutes cut into one and check it’s cooked through. Remove the steaks from the pan and cut into thin strips about 1cm thick and 4cm long. Let them rest while while you gently fry some fresh sage leaves in EVO. Don’t burn them, just get them crispy and then set them aside to use as a garnish later.
If you’re using fresh strascinati or orecchiette you’ll have about 4-6 minutes’ cooking time for the pasta, which is about enough time to return the pork to the frying pan, splash with cider and let it evaporate, and then turn the heat up to colour them a little. If you’re using dry pasta you’ll need to wait a few minutes before finishing the pork.
As the strascinati reach the point of being cooked (with fresh pasta it’s sometimes the moment that they all float to the surface, but check for yourself and adjust the cooking time as required!), fish them out of the water and add to a pasta pan which contains about a quarter of the mushroom sauce.
Add a little pasta water, add the pork, tossing and combining, add more mushrooms / sauce and water if need be, then serve immediately with parmesan / pecorino, black pepper and the remainder of the mushrooms and the fried sage leaves on the top of each portion.
NUTRITION PER SERVING
KCAL: 737
Fat: 24.3g
S/FAT: 6.5g
CARB: 76.4g
Sug: 6.3g
Fib: 6.0g
Prot: 45.5g
Salt: 0.6g
