Mezze maniche pasta (half sleeves) with potatoes, mushrooms and grappa

Dear friends, the time for mushrooms has finally arrived…

I know that many of you know have the passion to eat them, but also to pick them in the woods.

And after a lot of work, there is the perfect recipe to enhance them. Mezze maniche ( the translation is half sleeves) pasta with potatoes mushrooms and grappa.

Ingredients per 4 people

• 350 grams of half sleeves
• 4 fresh porcini mushrooms
• 20 grams of fresh morels
• 2 medium potatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 bunch of chives
• One slice of raw han – 150 grams
• 1 dl of grappa
• extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation

Soak the morels in hot water for 15-20 minutes. Clean the porcini mushrooms and cut them into small pieces, keeping two of the four heads. Cut the raw ham in cubes, peel and chop the onion. Drain the morels, and slice the largest one. Brown the morels in a pan with two tablespoons of oil and the onion; add the ham and brown it for 5 minutes. Put in the chopped porcini mushrooms and continue cooking for 10 minutes at high heat, until the water has evaporated. Add the grappa and let it evaporate.

Slice the heads of the Porcini you kept aside and sauté them in a pan with oil and salt. Peel the potatoes, cut them into slices and boil them with the half sleeves pasta in boiling salted water. Drain and sauté with the mushrooms and the ham. Complete with the slices Porcini heads and a a sprinkle of chopped chives.

Wine paring

Mushrooms don’t like tannic wines, so they rarely pair with red wines. But I would suggest to try this dish with a young Pinot Noir. On the other hand, a rather appropriate combination could be a Sauvignon blanc or a beautiful champagne method bubble like a Trento doc.

Enjoy!

Ciao

Elisa