A mountainous, rugged, magnificent region where people still eat as if they had to dig a field after every meal. Pasta is practically a national sport here. Pasta with chipolata sausage and bell pepper isn't a classic, codified dish, but it clearly aligns with the cuisines of central and southern Italy, where tomatoes, bell peppers, and sausage are staples.
This is a recipe that you'll find slightly spicy in Lazio, spicier in Campania (Naples), and very spicy in Calabria, while the Abruzzo version omits the chili pepper, giving the bell pepper center stage.
Pasta: 200 grams. I recommend long, slightly flat pasta, like tagliatelle, to get closer to the typical pasta of this region (Strangozzi, Pappardelle, Ciriolle).
Tomatoes: 200 grams or 12 cherry tomatoes. You can perfectly well use canned tomato pulp (in this case, I use the small 210g cans from Mutti). I said pulp, not tomato puree or tomato paste. The other option, which I prefer when I have it available, is fresh tomatoes. I use cherry tomatoes (good quality ones too; there's no secret to it—if you use waterlogged, mass-produced ones, you won't get any flavor!) which I cut in half. Allow 12 cherry tomatoes.
Meat: 4 Chipolata sausages. Ideally, use wild garlic Chipolatas, but in any case, choose high-quality ones.
Bell Pepper: Depending on your taste (and the size of the peppers), you can use half to one bell pepper per person. Note that bell peppers are not typical of Umbria in general but are found in some pasta recipes, especially in the province of Terni, which is influenced by Lazio.
Cheese: No cheese is used during preparation, but grated Pecorino cheese is available for everyone to add to their plate as they wish. Pecorino Romano is a traditional cheese from central Italy made from whole sheep's milk. As always, the ideal is to have a piece of cheese that you can grate when needed; it's better than store-bought grated cheese (But again, it's not a deal-breaker if you only have grated cheese...)
Start the recipe 30 minutes before serving. I'm not specifying the pasta cooking time, as it depends on the type of pasta you use, so you'll need to factor in the water heating and pasta cooking time. I cook on a gas stove, and for the pasta water, I heat a little water in the bottom of the pot and 1.5 liters in an electric kettle. With this method, it takes me about 4 minutes to get boiling water in the pot.
M-30: In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil. Remove the chipolatas from the pan, then finely chop a yellow onion and a clove of garlic.
M-27: Add the onion to the sauté pan, then finely chop a bell pepper.
M-25: Add the chipolatas and garlic. Take out the granulated sugar and prepare the cherry tomatoes by cutting them in half.
M-23: Add the tomatoes, bell pepper, a tablespoon of sugar, salt, and pepper to the sauté pan. Cover and simmer over low heat. Stir every 5 minutes.
M-3: Remove the chipolatas from the pan briefly to cut them into small pieces and return them to the sauce.
M-1: Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce in the sauté pan. Mix well for one minute and serve with Pecorino Roman cheese on the side.
