Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Pane Salsiccia


During my undergrad study in Rome, I think somewhere around 03, an Italian riend of mine brought me to a small enoteca called Nuvolari, just 4 blocks east of Vatican city on Borgo Vittorio at Via degli Ombrellari 10. Besides the very cool atmosphere, all wood, lots of candles lit in old wine bottles covered in wax drippings, an excellent wine selection and not to mention the free buffet served in the evenings, there was one dish in particular that has stuck with me since that I have been trying over the years and have come up with two versions of it that work really well. The dish is called Pane Salsiccia and it is a ground pork sausage pate with white truffle on small crostini. Here's how to do it.

Ingredients:
Sweet or Mild Pork Sausages in casings - 1 lb
White Onion - 1 large, chopped
Garlic - 2 cloves chopped
Nutmeg - ground, 1 tsp
Olive Oil - 2 tbs
White Truffle Oil - 2 tbs
Baguette - sliced into 1 inch thick pieces
Salt & Pepper - 2 tsp each
Parsley - 1 tbs dry or fresh


Take all of the sausage out of the casing by slicing them down the center. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent then add sausage. Stir and mash into small pieces until fully cooked, add nutmeg, salt and pepper and 1 tsp of truffle oil and stir well. After cooked put the mixture into a food processor and mix, adding olive oil if necessary, until it becomes a smooth pate. Heat the oven to 350. Place the crostini on a large baking sheet and spread some olive oil on each, toast until slightly golden. Spread a generous potion of the sausage pate on each crostino then drizzle the rest of the truffle oil on top of each and bake again for about 8 minutes. When done sprinkle some parsley on top and if you like some grated romano cheese. 

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