Tagliarini is an egg pasta from Northern Italy, similar to its wider and more famous cousin, tagliatelle (the name comes from the verb tagliare, to cut).
These thin, flat ribbons are often served with butter and truffles, but Mario prefers the earthy notes supplied by the porcini mushrooms and sage. If you can’t find tagliarini, feel free to substitute tagliatelle or fettuccine.
Note that unlike many other kinds of pasta, tagliarini cooks extremely quickly-in three or four minutes for dried; one or two minutes for fresh.
Porcini means “little pigs” in Italian, and is their name for the sumptuous mushroom known as the “king bolete” in the U.S. and as cèpes in France. You can substitute dried porcini for this recipe (soak them in boiling water for twenty minutes before using), or use crimini, those small, brown button mushrooms instead if you can’t find porcini.
This recipe is excerpted from Death al Fresco: A Sally Solari Mystery.