As mentioned before, the classic sauce to mix with strozzapreti is meat ragout or the sauce made with ‘maiden’s tears’ (or cowbells, o Silene Vulgaris), but there are many easy alternatives tasty ways to use, including the sauce with peppers proposed this month to cook with Gramigna. The quanties below are sufficient for 4 people (500 gr of strozzapreti).

Meat ragout:

Everybody has their own recipe, and I am currently trying to extort hers from my Grannie, ’cause it is the best ever…. However, in the meantime, you can try this one of mine:

50 gr onion
200 gr mince meat
50 gr pork sausage meat
½ glass dry red wine
a spoon of tomato concentrated purée
250 gr chopped tomatoes
½ cube
salt
pepper
parmesan cheese

Lightly fry the onion and add the meat once the onion is transparent. Brown the meat and add the wine. When this has reduced, add the tomato purée and mix throughly. Now you may add the tomatoes, the cube, and a pinch of salt. Let it boil slowly for about one and half hours. If you notice that the sauce is getting too dry, add some hot water to it, and let it boil away. Once it’s done, add some black pepper. You can overdo with the grated parmesan in this recipe, as it just adds a perfect taste to the other flavours.

Sauce with Cowbells:

300 gr of cowbells,
400 gr tomatoes sauce,
50 gr di bacon or pancetta, smoked if you prefer,
a garlic clove,
half an onion,
½ glass of dry white wine,
grated parmesan cheese,
olive oil.

After having lightly fried the bacon, garlic and onion, finely chopped, add the wine and let evaporate. Add the cowbells (washed and hand-chopped, otherwise you’d ruin them!), let them release their flavour for a few seconds and pour in the tomato sauce. Adjust the saltiness and let cook for around 10-15 minutes. Once you mix the sauce to the pasta, serve with abundant parmesan cheese.

Sauce with pork sausage and Radicchio Rosso Trevigiano (Red Trevisan Chicory):

150gr pork sausage meat,
1 bunch of radicchio rosso,
parmesan cheese,
oil,
2-3 spoonful of cream or mascarpone,
salt

Cut the radicchio rosso in stripes and crumble the sausage meat. Put this in a pan and let brown before you add the radicchio rosso. Adjust the saltiness and let stew on a moderate heat for about 10 minutes. Add the Parmesan and the cream and leave on the heat for a further 2 minutes, mixing continuously.