Pasta Alla Norcina has creamy pasta with sausage and mushrooms in a super flavorful white wine cream sauce.
What is Pasta Alla Norcina?
It’s a creamy sausage and mushroom pasta dish that originated in Norcia, a mountain town located in the Umbria region of central Italy. Norcia is known for their highly-skilled pork butchers (aka norcini) who have made the region famous for its fantastic cured meats.
Pasta alla Norcina is loaded with flavor thanks to the combination of sausage and mushrooms, rosemary, white wine, and Pecorino Romano cheese – all tossed with hearty cooked pasta.
Type of Mushroom to Use for Pasta Alla Norcina
In Norcia, you might find this dish made with white truffles – a rare and highly-prized wild fungus with an intense and unique aroma and flavor. Most of us don’t have access to truffles to use as an ingredient in our recipes.
Cremini (or baby Bella) mushrooms are a more than acceptable mushroom option for this recipe instead of truffles.
Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Pasta – Any firm pasta shape will work in this recipe. We used medium-sized shells.
- Sweet Italian Sausage – Remove the sausage from the casings or buy bulk sausage. While we used sweet sausage, you could swap in hot Italian sausage if you prefer a spicier dish.
- Mushrooms – Cremini mushrooms (also called Baby Bella) are a flavorful mushroom option for Pasta alla Norcina. You can certainly use other mushrooms if you prefer.
- Yellow Onion
- Fresh Garlic
- White Wine – We used a good-quality chardonnay.
- Unsalted Butter and Olive Oil
- Heavy Cream – Traditionally, this dish just uses the pasta cooking water to make the sauce. For a creamier texture, we included heavy cream in the sauce.
- Spices and Seasonings – Nutmeg, dried rosemary, salt, and ground white pepper.
- Pecorino Romano Cheese – For the very best flavor, we always recommend that you buy a wedge of aged cheese and grate it yourself.
Cooking Tips & Tricks
- When cooking the pasta, stop while the pasta is still a little chewy so it will absorb the flavors as it finishes cooking in the sauce.
Pasta alla Norcina
Pasta Alla Norcina has creamy pasta with sausage and mushrooms in a super flavorful white wine cream sauce.
- Category: pasta
- Method: Sautéing
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
12 ounces dry pasta (we used shells but you could use any firm shape such as Penne, Rigatoni, Fusili, etc.)
12 ounces Cremini mushrooms, sliced (also known as Baby Bella)
4 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, ground (we placed ours in a mortar and pestle along with the salt and ground to a fine powder)
1 teaspoon kosher salt, as mentioned above
1 pound Italian sausage, remove from casings
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups yellow onion, diced
2 tablespoons fresh garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup white wine
1 pint (2 cups) heavy cream
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese, plus more for serving
Instructions
- Start a large pot of water to boil. Once boiling, add a little salt and the pasta and cook just shy of done. (still a little chewy). Do not discard pasta water yet.
- While pasta is cooking, in a large skillet without heat, add sliced mushrooms and turn the heat to medium high heat and cook until browned, stirring often, about 8 minutes. Once browned, add butter, salt and ground rosemary. Stir and scrape contents into a bowl.
- Place the sausage meat into the skillet and over medium high heat, brown the sausage meat, about 5-8 minutes.
- Move the meat to the edges and add the olive oil, onions and garlic and cook to soften the onions, for about 3 minutes.
- Stir in the white pepper and nutmeg, then add the mushrooms back in along with the white wine. Cook to evaporate most of the wine, for about 5 minutes.
- Add the heavy cream and grated Romano cheese and heat just to bubbling then remove from heat.
- By now, the pasta should be ready. Save a few cups of the pasta water and drain the rest.
- Place the drained pasta back into the pot and pour over the sauce.
- Place heat on medium and finish cooking the pasta in the sauce, adding pasta water if needed as you go until the pasta is fully cooked.
- Serve with additional Romano cheese over each portion.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I make Pasta Alla Norcina ahead of time? You can make the sauce ahead but the pasta should be cooked just before serving.
- How do I store leftovers? Store leftovers covered and in the refrigerator for up to three days.
- How do I reheat leftovers? Gently reheat in a saucepan of the microwave.
- Can I freeze? No, the pasta will get mushy once thawed.
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