Cortecce is an elongated, irregularly shaped fresh pasta from Salerno area.
To make cortecce from scratch, check out our photo gallery for step-by-step instructions then take your pick from one of the three traditional sauces listed below.
Cortecce with porcini mushrooms and sausage
In addition to the cortecce pasta, you’ll need 2 sausages (casings removed), 11 oz. porcini mushrooms, 1 glass of white wine, oil, and salt. Heat the oil, then add the crumbled sausage and brown on all sides. Slice the mushrooms and add them to the sausage. Cook for a moment, then pour in the wine and let it brown. Meanwhile, boil the cortecce pasta in salted water. Once cooked, add to the pan and stir to mix everything, cooking for a few minutes more.
Cortecce alla carrettiera
This dish combines the flavors of terra (land) and mare (sea). First, prepare 1 lb. of cortecce. Then you’ll need 5 oz. porcini mushrooms, 7 oz. bacon, 2 cans of tuna, tomato sauce, garlic, and oil. Sauté the garlic in the oil, then add the (sliced) porcini mushrooms. Once the mushrooms are cooked, add the diced bacon and tuna. Mix everything together with a 2-Tbsp. tomato sauce. Once you’ve cooked the cortecce, transfer it to the sauce and stir to combine. Cook for another minute or so to let the flavors blend. Serve warm.
Cortecce with clams and lemon
You’ll need 1 lb. of fresh cortecce, 2 lb. clams, 1 large lemon (untreated), 2 garlic cloves, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. First, soak the clams for 20 minutes then clean them under running water to make sure there's no sand inside the shells. Cook them in a pan to open them, then shell and set aside a few unshelled clams for decoration later. Transfer to a frying pan with a mixture of garlic and olive oil. In the meantime, cook the pasta and grate the lemon peel. Drain the pasta, add it to the clams, with a little of the clams’ cooking water and the juice of 1 lemon. Let the liquid evaporate completely. Serve the pasta with the whole clams (set aside earlier) and a sprinkling of fresh parsley.