Rigatoni with Sausage and Porcini Mushroom Sauce
This creamy porcini mushroom sauce is a riff on ragù alla monzese, which is a rich sausage and saffron sauce from the Lombardy region of Northern Italy. My version combines Italian sausage, saffron, Marsala wine, and dried porcini mushrooms with plenty of cream, butter, and Parmigiano Reggiano. In other words, all very good things!
If you enjoy mushroom pastas, try my Chive Funghetti ai Funghi next!
I love serving this porcini sauce with rigatoni. The short, tubular shape catches plenty of the creamy sauce and all those little crispy pieces of sausage, making sure you get a bit of everything in each bite.
It’s rich and comforting, but the Marsala, earthy porcini, and saffron bring enough complexity that it feels a little more special than your standard creamy pasta. And despite all those big flavours, the whole thing comes together while the pasta cooks.
Should I Use Fresh or Dried Porcini Mushrooms?
I use dried porcini mushrooms here, and they’re particularly well suited to a sauce like this. Porcini have an intensely earthy, savoury flavour that becomes even more concentrated when they’re dried. You only need 20 grams for this entire recipe, but they bring a huge amount of flavour to the finished sauce.
Before cooking, soak the dried porcini in warm water for around 5 minutes to soften them, then drain them well before adding them to the sauce.
Fresh porcini are absolutely glorious if you can get your hands on them, but they’re seasonal and can be rather difficult to find. Dried porcini are much easier to find year-round and can live happily in your pantry until the pasta craving strikes.
How to Make Porcini Mushroom Sauce
The beauty of this porcini mushroom pasta sauce is that it comes together in roughly the same amount of time it takes to cook your rigatoni.
- Soak the saffron and rehydrate the mushrooms. Start by soaking the saffron threads in a little warm water. This helps them disperse evenly throughout the sauce! Then, rehydrate the dried porcini mushrooms separately. Meanwhile, get your rigatoni cooking in a large pot of generously salted water.
- Cook the sausage. Remove the Italian sausage meat from its casings and cook it in olive oil, breaking it into small pieces as you go. Don’t rush it. You want the sausage nicely coloured with plenty of little crispy bits.
- Deglaze the pan. Next, add the Marsala wine and use it to deglaze the pan, scraping up all those delicious caramelised bits of sausage from the bottom.
- Finish the sauce. After a minute or two, pour in the cream followed by the saffron and its soaking water. Stir through the drained porcini mushrooms and let everything simmer very gently while the pasta finishes cooking.
- Combine and serve. Transfer your al dente rigatoni directly into the sauce along with a splash of pasta water, butter and finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Toss everything together, adding more pasta water as needed, until the sauce is silky and clinging to the rigatoni. Enjoy warm!
My Top Tips for the Best Porcini Sauce
- Get some colour on your sausage. Give it enough time in the pan to become nicely browned and a little crispy. Those caramelised bits add so much flavour to the sauce.
- Don’t skip the Marsala. It adds sweetness and depth while helping lift all those lovely browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Save your pasta water. The starchy water helps loosen the sauce and brings the cream, butter, and Parmigiano together into something glossy if it becomes too thick.
- Season at the end. Italian sausage and Parmigiano both bring plenty of salt, as does your pasta water, so taste the finished sauce before adding any additional seasoning.
What Pasta Goes Best with Porcini Mushroom Sauce?
Rigatoni is my first choice for this sauce. All those ridges and tubes give the creamy porcini sauce somewhere to cling, while the little pieces of crispy sausage inevitably find their way inside the pasta.
Other short pasta shapes would work particularly well, too. Try paccheri, mezze maniche, penne or another sturdy tubular shape that can stand up to the rich sauce. A long, broad pasta such as pappardelle or tagliatelle would also be delicious if that’s what you have on hand. If you want to make your own, start with my master pasta dough.
Whatever you choose, I’d stick with something substantial enough to hold its own against the sausage, mushrooms, and cream. This is definitely not the time for angel hair!
How to Store and Reheat
Like most creamy pasta dishes, this porcini mushroom pasta is at its absolute best served straight from the pan. However, leftovers can still be stored and reheated with a little care.
- To store: Allow the pasta to cool, then transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
- To reheat: Warm leftovers gently in a frying pan over low heat, adding a splash of water or cream to loosen the sauce as needed. You can also reheat individual portions in the microwave until piping hot.
- To make ahead: If you want to get ahead, I’d make the porcini sauce and store it separately from the pasta. Reheat it gently while cooking fresh rigatoni, then toss everything together with the butter, Parmigiano and pasta water just before serving.
FAQs
What does porcini mushroom sauce taste like?
Porcini mushrooms have an intensely earthy, savoury flavour that’s much more pronounced than your everyday button mushroom. Here, they’re balanced by rich Italian sausage and cream, slightly sweet Marsala and the warm, floral flavour of saffron.
What can I substitute for porcini mushrooms?
If you can’t get your hands on dried porcini, dried shiitake mushrooms would be my first choice for something with plenty of savoury, earthy flavour. However, porcini have a distinctive flavour, so the finished sauce won’t taste quite the same.
What can I substitute for Marsala wine?
If you don’t have Marsala, a dry sherry would be the closest substitute. The flavour won’t be exactly the same, but it will still work nicely with the sausage and mushrooms.
Rigatoni with Porcini Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
- 300 g rigatoni
- ½ tsp saffron threads soaked in 25ml warm water
- 20 g dried porcini mushrooms soaked in warm water for 5 minutes, then drained
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 Italian sausage links removed from their casing
- 2 tablespoons Marsala wine
- 225 ml cream
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 50 g Parmigiano Reggiano finely grated plus extra to serve
Instructions
- Cook the rigatoni in a large pot of generously salted water according to packet instructions.
- Meanwhile, add the olive oil to a large saute pan over a medium heat, followed by the sausage meat, breaking it up into small pieces using the back of a spoon. Cook the sausage until it’s nicely coloured and starting to get a little crispy – around 7 minutes.
- Add the Marsala wine to deglaze the pan, making sure to scrape up any crispy bits of sausage.
- After a minute or two, pour in the cream, followed by the saffron and water it’s been soaking in.
- Stir through the drained porcini mushrooms and let the sauce simmer away over a very low heat until your pasta is suitably al dente.
- Transfer the cooked pasta directly to the sauce along with some of the pasta water, 1 tablespoon of butter and the grated Parmigiano.
- Toss well, adding pasta water as needed to loosen the sauce – season to taste.
- Divide between bowls and serve with extra grated Parmigiano.
