‘Mezze Maniche’ pasta shapes with Taleggio cheese, speck and porcini mushrooms, on a bed of creamed potatoes
Ingredients
(for 4 people)400 g ‘mezze maniche’ or ‘caserecce di Gragnano’ pasta shapes
FOR THE SAUCE:
2 small shallots, finely chopped
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
250 g porcini mushrooms
100 g speck
25 ml white wine
1 sprig of parsley
30 g grated Parmesan cheese
200 g Organic Taleggio
500g of potatoes, already peeled
1 leek
stock, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
flakes of Torregio cheese to decorate
Method:
Fry the finely sliced leek in 4 tbsp oil, reduce down well with the stock and then add the diced potatoes; cover with stock and leave to cook until soft. Blend everything with a mixer and season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.In the meantime, fry the shallots in a pan with 5 cc of oil, increase the heat and add the sliced porcini mushrooms. Once they become lighter in colour, add the wine and chopped parsley and simmer until reduced; season with salt and pepper. Remove the mushrooms and toss the small strips of speck in the pan for 1 minute; add the mushrooms.
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water and then toss in the pan with the sauce; remove from the heat and add the chopped Taleggio, the Parmesan cheese and parsley. Serve by spreading a layer of the cream of potatoes on the bottom of the dish and top with the creamy pasta; sprinkle with Torregio cheese.
Wine matching:
BARBERA D’ASTI DOCGSuch a rich-flavoured first course with Taleggio cheese, speck, porcini mushrooms and potatoes deserves nothing less than a full-bodied, well structured, harmonic, dry wine. Duchessa Lia Barbera d’Asti is a DOCG wine with an intense bouquet and a typical vinous smell of fresh fruit. The original grape variety, Barbera, is one of the best-known from Piedmont and the wine has an intense ruby red colour. It perfectly combines with first courses with bolognaise sauce and red meat second courses. The ideal serving temperature is approx. 18°- 20°C.