The King’s Sausage! I bet that title caught your attention … but the King’s Sausage is not what you might think it is!

Il Salame del Re (this is the Italian name) is a wonderful rustic sweet that my aunt Rina used to make for us children. It’s also known as Salame di Cioccolato (Chocolate Sausage) or Salame Dolce (Sweet Sausage), but for me it will always be zia Rina’s Salame del Re! Now, a couple of days ago my brother Gippi gave me a recipe book which includes this long forgotten dessert from my childhood. Oooh che buono! Ho una gran voglia di riassaggiarlo … quasi quasi uno di questi giorni lo faccio (Oooh it’s so delicious! I really fancy tasting it again … mmmh, I think I’m going to make it one of these days).

mmmh, che buono!

And now I’m going to share the recipe for this simple sweet with you, but first a word of warning: it’s a calorie bomb … so kiss that diet goodbye!

Method:

Melt the butter and leave it to cool down. In the mean time roughly break the biscuits into large crumbs with a rolling pin or a food processor, but be careful not to reduce them to a powder (tip: we usually put the biscuits in a strong transparent plastic bag before crushing them with the rolling pin, it’s far less messy!). Roughly chop the pine nuts or almonds.

Put the crumbled biscuits in a mixing bowl, add the melted butter and all the other ingredients. Mix everything together with the help of a wooden spoon (you may also need to use your hands). When the sticky concoction is well mixed, shape it into a long thick sausage, then wrap it in greaseproof paper and put it in the fridge to cool down for a few hours.

When you want to serve il Salame del Re, take it out of the fridge, remove the paper, and cut it into slices about 1 cm thick. Remember to put any leftover Salame back in the fridge before it melts!

Buon Appetito!

Note:
*Vin Santo is a typical sweet dessert wine from Tuscany. I believe, however, that zia Rina used to put in a little Sambuca (a liqueur similar to Ouzo made from star aniseed) instead of Vin Santo. So if you’re feeling adventurous you could also try that version.