MACCHERONI WITH MUSHROOM POLPETTINI IN SUGO

#1, #2

vegetarian

main course

medium

Cettina Vicenzino

INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PERSONS

For the mushroom polpettini
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, e.g. B. Tonda Iblea
400 g mushrooms
6 slices of pancetta or bacon
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
Fresh thyme (to taste)
80 g pecorino, grated
100 g breadcrumbs
1 egg (size S)
10 g TOMAMI # 1
Sea-saltå
Freshly ground black pepper

For the sugo
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
900 g canned tomatoes
Some basil leaves
2 tbsp. TOMAMI # 2
Peel of half an organic lemon, not grated!
Peperoncino flakes
4 tbsp. pecorino, grated or planed
Extra virgin olive oil, e.g. B. Tonda Iblea

In addition
360 g maccheroncini
Sea-salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Cleanse the mushrooms with a brush and cut into quarters. Roughly chop the garlic and slice the pancetta or bacon. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the mushrooms together with the garlic, pancetta or bacon and thyme and brown slightly. Stir occasionally.
Take off the heat, leave to cool down slightly and briefly mix together with the pecorino, the breadcrumbs and TOMAMI #1. Break the egg, beat and add to the mixture drop by drop. Continue mixing until soft but malleable (not a fine mixture). Season with salt and pepper. With wet hands form 28-32 balls of approx. 15 g each and place them side by side on a plate.
Heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan with a high rim. Cut the garlic into slices, add to the oil and fry until golden yellow. Add the tomatoes, TOMAMI # 2, basil, the lemon peel and season with salt and pepperoncini. Bring to the boil once, then add a ladle of hot water and the mushroom balls. Put the lid on and simmer at medium temperature for 20 minutes. After 10 minutes turn the mushroom balls over carefully. At the end of the cooking time, allow to simmer for 5 minutes without the lid and remove from the stove. Remove the lemon peel. Cover and set aside.

Heat the water for the pasta in a large saucepan. Once the water starts to boil, add salt and cook the pasta al dente at a high temperature, stirring occasionally. Strain the pasta, mix with a little sugo and arrange on plates. Add plenty of sugo to each portion with approx. 7-8 mushroom balls. Drizzle with olive oil, and decorate with basil leaves, sprinkle with pecorino and serve.
Preparation time: 45 minutes

Matching olive oil: Tonda Iblea, e.g. from Cutrera

A recipe by Cettina Vicenzino.

We have entered into a collaboration with a new partner, Cettina Vicenzino. Cettina was born in Sicily, then moved to Cologne with her family in 1972. Her parents opened an Italian restaurant there under the name of “Mamma Maria” and run by her mother. Before Cettina moved to Hamburg to study fashion and art, she spent her days off in the restaurant kitchen doing experimental cooking. Cooking and eating remained the common thread throughout her many activities.
In addition to artistic activities in he fields of fashion art, eat art and concept art, she took up food photography in 1992, always trying not to artificially replicate food products, but to preserve the respect for nature. Nowadays she lives in Bavaria and Sicily with her husband and works as a freelance photographer, recipe developer, food stylist writer of cookbooks and regular columns about Italian food culture.
Her cookbook “ITALIA” won 1st place at the Gourmand World Cookbook Award in 2017 as the best Italian cookbook in the world.