I’ll be honest Ndjua is a new thing to me, in fact I’ve only
been aware that it’s “A Thing” for a couple of years now. If you too are
unaware of its existence, I’ll try to explain. Nduja is a spicy Italian
spreadable salami, I’ve only seen it in Jars, but I guess it probably comes in a
traditional salami shape as well. The taste is sweet spicy and carries herbal
note that I can’t quite explain but safe to say it’s very very tasty but in moderation.
My previous exposure had been on a pizza, pretty much mostly pizza outlets have
whacked on a bit of Nduja because apparently its rather on trend or maybe not,
to be frank, I really don’t care.
Right then, my creation. As mentioned, pizza seems to be the
vehicle of choice and I wanted to try something different but sticking to the
Italian theme I opted for Pasta.
Using the Nduja as a sauce ingredient I bolstered the meat
content with some actual bona fide sausage, to add depth I went for the usual wine
for piquancy plus fennel to add depth and an interesting background flavour.
The result is a moderately spicy pasta that’s slightly sweet, and herby with a
tang at the end to make you want more.
Ingredients – 4 People
4 Good quality Pork Sausages
2 heaped teaspoons of Nduja Paste
1 teaspoon of Ground Fennel seeds
1 Carrot finely chopped
Half a Celery stalk finely chopped
Half a glass of white whine
1 Tablespoon of tomato puree
1 Medium size onion diced
2 cloves of Garlic finely chopped
500 ml of Chicken Stock
Pasta of your choice – I went with Fusilli
Remove the skin from the sausages and break into small chunks
In a large frying pan gently brown the sausage bits and then
remove from the pan placing to one side
Add the chopped onion, season and gently fry until soft.
Turn up the heat, add the Carrot, Celery, Fennel and Garlic , season again and
fry for 1-2 minutes. Now stir through the Nduja until well combined. Add the
tomato puree, cook for a 30 seconds or so, then stir well to make sure all ingredients
are combined. Add the wine and using a wooden spoon or spatula make sure you
get all the brown bits at the bottom of the pan released, continue until the
wine has all but evaporated and stir in the stock and add a little more
seasoning
Bring to a slow simmer then add back in the browned sausage,
once simmering again partly cover and cook for 20-30 mins , until the carrots
are soft. Once cooked, check again for seasoning
When the sauce is about 10 mins away (or cooked, you can
leave it to simmer gently) bring a pan of water to the boil, add plenty of salt
and cook the pasta to instructions. If your sauce looks a little dry whilst the
pasta Is cooking put a ladle of the pasta water into the sauce, stir well and
it should look luxuriously silky again
Drain the pasta well and in the pan add a good glug of olive
oil plus a lot of black pepper. Stir well.
At this point you can either ladle the sauce into the pan
with the cooked pasta, stir well and serve. Or you can dish out pasta onto
plates/bowls and ladle sauce on top.
Finish each dish with a grated parmesan and chopped basil
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