Paccheri with porcini, speck and pistachio!
There are a number of wonderful pasta recipes made with paccheri with porcini. This is one of my favourites! I made it with paccheri and pistachios from Sicily, porcini from our woods and speck from the Alto-Adige! All wondeful traditional Italian ingredients!
Whilst on holiday in Sicily recently, I came home with a number of culinary goodies and types of pasta. One of the types of pasta was a wonderful artisan paccheri, which actually looked quite different to the dried paccheri I have bought in the past here in Veneto. Paccheri pasta, which is said to have originated in Campania, is very popular in Southern Italy.
Pistachios from Bronte
I also brought home some pistachios from the town of Bronte near Catania. In Italy, pistachios from Bronte are highly valued and considered to be the very best pistachios available. Sicilian cuisine makes good use of pistachios. They can be found not only in cakes and ice-cream, but also in many savoury foods and pasta dishes.
The Porcini.
So, I was looking for a Sicilian recipe to use my paccheri and pistachios when my hubby came home with some fresh porcini mushrooms. My hubby, Salvatore, is a doctor with a practice in a country town near to where we live. His patients often bring him food as gifts.They give us eggs, homemade cakes and bread, cheeses and various homegrown fruit and vegetables. This time it was fresh porcini, as it’s now porcini season. In fact, this king of mushrooms can be found in the woods in our area. Porcini are also found in Sicily on the slopes of Mount Etna and in the Nebrodi mountains.
My recipe search brought me to this recipe for paccheri with porcini, speck and pistachios. Although speck ( a kind of bacon produced in Northern Italy) isn’t traditionally Sicilian, this dish was on the menu of a restaurant in Cefalu, Sicily. Perfect I thought, and perfect it was.
Finding the ingredients.
Of course, you may not be able to find fresh porcini, pistachio from Bronte and artisan Sicilian paccheri. However, frozen or dried porcini work well too. Other types of pistachios, especially if they aren’t salted, and good quality will probably be just as tasty. Of course, paccheri can be found in most stores or online and speck is now available at most British supermarket chains and I’m sure in other countries as well.
The combination of paccheri with porcini, speck and pistachio was divine. I baked the leftovers rather than just reheat them in the microwave. I’m not sure which tasted better, the freshly made dish or the leftovers! Give this recipe a try! It's definitely one to remember!
If you do try this recipe, I’d love to hear what you think. Please write a comment here on the blog or post a comment on the Pasta Project Facebook page.
Your feedback means a lot to me!
Buon Appetito!
(see the recipe on page 2. Just scroll down and click 2)
Other paccheri recipes on The Pasta Project
- Ricotta filled paccheri with tomato sauce
- Mezze paccheri with mushrooms and cream
- Paccheri with calamari and potatoes
Tell us what you think