‘nduja – spicy, fatty, pork heaven

My friend Susan came to Todi for lunch two weeks ago. She is from LA, but had spent the week in Florence at a conference. So, naturally, I expected she would show up with either some goodies from California, where she lives, or maybe Florence. But no. She showed up with a shopping bag full of sausages and other tidbits from Calabria. As it turns out one of her best friends had come all the way from Italy’s toe to visit her in Florence, and brought along not only sausages, but also tuna and mackerel.

As Susan started to unload the bag, I couldn’t believe how much stuff there was. But, sadly, it wasn’t all meant for me. “Which of these things do you think I can smuggle back into the States,” she asked. Ok. Since I’m known as the ‘answer lady’ in some circles, I thought “Hmm…I could say almost anything and she’d believe me, and I’d have all of this loot to myself!” But no. I was honest. Most of the sausage was shrink wrapped, and the fish was canned or jarred. But, lucky lucky me, the most interesting booty was a huge, greasy hunk of ‘njuda, barely wrapped in a piece of saran wrap.

I knew full well that the LAX beagles would disembowel Susan’s luggage to get at this stuff, so I had no qualms about taking it out of her hands.

‘Nduja, (pronounced en-DOO-ya) comes from Calabria and is a soft, spicy spreadable sausage. The only ingredients are pork, pork fat, and lots and lots of hot red pepper. Unlike other salame, there is so much fat it can’t be cut into slices. It’s always spread on warm bread or crostini, or else used to dress pasta.

I actually had never bought it before, and certainly had never cooked with it. While we were still in Todi I used it to top a pizza, and it was amazing! Back in Rome on Sunday night I thought I’d have a go at pasta. There is a really delicious dish served at Taverna dei Fori Imperiali that uses ‘Nduja and Broccoletti (Broccoli Rabe), but that was way out of season. I did, however, have four small zucchinis in the fridge, so started from there. Here’s the recipe below, which turned out scrumptious, and actually not too spicy. I somehow suspect there was a bit of sugar in the sausage, because it caramelized deliciously.

Pasta with ‘Nduja and Zucchini

250 grams/ 1/2 pound of ‘nduja*
1 red onion
2 Tablespoons olive oil
4 small zucchini, coarsely grated
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 pound pasta (I used rigatoni, any short pasta will do) 

Heat oil in large frying pan, big enough to hold the drained, cooked pasta.

Add chopped onion, cook gently until soft. Add grated zucchini, and cook at higher heat until wilted. Add salt and garlic, and cook for one minute. Add crumbled ‘nduja, and stir around, breaking it up until it sort of just melts apart. Remember, it’s a salame, and so already cooked. You don’t have to worry about it being ‘done’ and you certainly don’t want to cook it too long. Add wine and let it boil away.

In the meantime cook pasta in boiling, salted water. Drain, reserving a cup of the pasta water. Add drained pasta to the ‘nduja mixture and stir until well mixed, adding some of the pasta water to make it loser and creamy. Add parsley, toss and serve.


*Where to find ‘Nduja
In theory you can’t import ‘Nduja due to pork import restrictions, but I did find this company that seems to ship to the States:
Eterni Sapori di Calabria

Also Boccalone is making it in the States, but I haven’t tried it yet and it doesn’t really look like the stuff that comes from Calabria. Has anyone tried it?