Conchiglie Cacio, Pepe e Salsiccia Maltese
Ingredients for 2 persons:
400g Pasta Shells
150g Pecorino Romano (freshly grated)
1tsp Black Peppercorns (more or less depending to your liking)
100g Maltese Sausage
1/2tsp Olive Oil
1tsp Coarse Salt
Directions:
Toast the peppercorns for a minute in a hot pan. You can skip this step but I think that this enhances the pepper’s flavour and brings out the aroma.
Crush the pepper using a pestle and mortar leaving it slightly coarse.
Place the olive oil in a hot skillet, remove the sausage from its casing, and fry it until crispy. Break the sausage into small pieces while cooking.
Once it’s crispy, turn off the heat and remove the sausage. Set aside.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, add the salt, and toss in the pasta shells. Cook them to the indicated time on the package.
Finely grate the Pecorino cheese in a small bowl. Leave some for the end.
Using the same sausage skillet, turn the heat on and add a ladle of pasta water in it. This should sizzle and helps deglazing all the sausage residues from the pan.
Add the grated pecorino, lower the flame, and gently stir until it becomes creamy.
Add the pasta to the cream, followed by more grated cheese, the pepper, and the crispy sausage, and stir well for a minute.
Since the cheese and sausage are salty, you shouldn’t need more salt but adjust it to your liking.
Plate them and finish them off with freshly grated Pecorino.