{"id":6833,"date":"2019-05-29T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T15:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/?post_type=recipe&p=6833"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:58:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:58:40","slug":"lupara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/29\/lupara\/","title":{"rendered":"Lupara"},"content":{"rendered":"

May 29, 2019<\/span><\/p>\n

A Lupara<\/em> is an 8mm sawn-off shotgun favored by La Cosa Nostra.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also the name of a pasta dish.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Lupara, the shotgun not the pasta. [Licensed from Bluedog<\/a>, without changes].<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>Interestingly, if you search for lupara recipes online you\u2019ll only find a few and you\u2019ll be hard-pressed to discover much commonality among the recipes.\u00a0 Some are spicy.\u00a0 Some are not.\u00a0 Some have sweet peppers.\u00a0 Some do not.\u00a0 Some have tomatoes.\u00a0 Some do not.\u00a0 And most of them will be made with spaghetti.<\/p>\n

I learned to make lupara at the Italian Culinary Institute<\/a>.\u00a0 It was among the first pasta dishes demonstrated during the early days of the three-month course.\u00a0 Made with short, cut pasta, like rigatoni, this rendition pays tribute to the shotgun for which it is named.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Lupara, the pasta not the shotgun, as prepared at the Italian Culinary Institute.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Join our mailing list<\/a> and you\u2019ll never miss a recipe again!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This dish makes use of a Basic Tomato Sauce<\/a>, just tomatoes and a few aromatics cooked briefly.\u00a0 You can make the tomato sauce in large batches and freeze it or you can make it as needed.\u00a0 Although the sauce can be used on its own in some dishes, it is deliberately not aggressively seasoned.\u00a0 This allows it to be used in a variety of preparations, with some final additional flavoring, without the sense that the same sauce is being used over and over.<\/p>\n

I know this seems a little out of order, but I will publish the recipe for the Basic Tomato Sauce<\/a> next week\u00a0 For my first blog post since returning from Italy, I wanted to feature a dish that grabbed my attention.\u00a0 This one did.\u00a0 It\u2019s got a great story and a great flavor.\u00a0 Basic Tomato Sauce is good but it isn\u2019t captivating (unlike a pasta dish named after the \u201cMob\u2019s\u201d favorite weapon!).\u00a0 Basic Tomato Sause is meant to play a supporting role in most situations and that\u2019s just not the type of recipe that I wanted to start with.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Lupara on the stove at the Italian Culinary Institute.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This version of Lupara is intended to be spicy but spicy means different things to different people.\u00a0 There are two ways to build spice into this pasta.\u00a0 You can use one or both of them.\u00a0 The first method is to add dried, ground red pepper (peperoncino piccante in polvere, in Italian) during the final assembly of the pasta.\u00a0 The other is to add thinly sliced fresh hot pepper (peperoncino fresco) when saut\u00e9ing the sausage.\u00a0 Getting authentic Italian peperoncino, powdered or fresh, is difficult in the States.\u00a0 You can substitute Cayenne pepper for the ground one and a variety of long, red (always red!) chile, such as Thai or Cayenne, for the fresh.<\/p>\n

Follow us on your social media platform of choice
\n<\/span><\/strong>\"\"<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This recipe also calls for fresh porcini mushrooms.\u00a0 These can be a challenge to find.\u00a0 Feel free to substitute thinly sliced portobello mushrooms.\u00a0 Though the flavor won\u2019t be exactly the same, the dish will still be yummy!\u00a0 If you are lucky enough to find fresh porcini, I suggest buying a heap, thinly slicing them, and freezing them.\u00a0 They can be used in all sorts of cooked dishes, especially Trifulata which will hit the blog in the near future\u2026as soon as I can find fresh porcini!! (You might notice portobello mushrooms in the pictures.)<\/p>\n

This recipe requires a small amount of sausage.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a major player though it does add a nice meaty background note to the sauce.\u00a0 Pick a good quality Italian-style sausage, sweet or hot.\u00a0 I think that sausage with fennel seed adds a nice flavor but that\u2019s a matter of personal taste.<\/p>\n

Buon appetito!!

<\/div>
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n \n <\/div>\n

Lupara<\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n \n
<\/div>\n
A lupara is an 8-gauge sawn-off shotgun associated with La Cosa Nostra (the \u201cMob\u201d). Rigatoni resemble the barrel of a lupara. Adjust heat level to your taste. If you can\u2019t find Italian powdered peperoncino piccante, substitute Cayenne pepper. For a different type of heat, add some thinly-sliced hot red chile when saut\u00e9ing the sausage, instead of, or in addition to, the powered chile. If you can\u2019t find fresh porcini, substitute portobello mushrooms. It is really important to use a very good quality Italian rigatoni, preferably an artisanal variety that is thicker than the usual boxed rigatoni to get the most benefit out of saut\u00e9ing the pasta. If you want to make half as much pasta, freeze half the sauce. The recipe for Basic Tomato Sauce will be posted next week.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n Print Recipe<\/a>\n Pin Recipe<\/a>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
Prep Time <\/span>30 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Cook Time <\/span>30 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Total Time <\/span>1 hour<\/span><\/span> hr<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Servings: <\/span>8<\/span> people<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span> Ingredients<\/a>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span> Method<\/a>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span> Notes<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Ingredients
<\/div>