Calabrian 'Nduja and Tomato Pasta
ITALIAN · ITALY

Calabrian 'Nduja and Tomato Pasta

Pasta con 'nduja e pomodoroMain

A jar of spreadable Calabrian salami melts into olive oil and stains a tomato sauce deep brick red. It is sweet, fierce and softly smoky, and it clings to every strand.

Total
35 min
Heat
4/5
Serves
4

Sign in to see what you already have, what you can swap and what’s missing.

Flavour profile

Heat
Funk
Acid
Richness
Umami
  • Rich
  • Savoury
  • Smoky
  • Spicy

The real deal

Region
Calabria, southern Italy, where 'nduja is made from pork, Calabrian chillies and salt.
Technique
The 'nduja is fried gently in olive oil so its fat and chilli bleed out and become the base of the sauce before the tomato goes in.
We kept
Real 'nduja, no cream, no cheese overload, and a sauce loosened with starchy pasta water.

Ingredients

4 Serves

Sauce

  • 120 g · soft, at room temperature
  • 3 tbsp
  • 3 cloves · smashed
  • 800 g · crushed by hand
  • 1 tbsp
  • 1 tsp
  • 1 tsp · optional · only if the tomatoes are sharp
  • 1 tbsp · for the pasta water
  • 1 pinch

pasta

  • 400 g

finish

  • 30 g · optional · chopped
  • 80 g · optional · finely grated

Method

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and salt it heavily; the pasta water is the only seasoning the sauce gets later. Add the and cook until it is one minute short of al dente. Smash the cloves with the flat of a knife and peel them; leave them whole so they flavour the oil without burning. While the water heats, tip the into a bowl and crush them with your hands until you have a rough, pulpy sauce with a few lumps left; you want texture, not a purée.

  2. Put the and the garlic in a wide pan over low heat. Once the garlic starts to sizzle, add the and break it up with a wooden spoon. Let it melt into the oil until the fat turns deep orange-red and smells of chilli and cured pork, about 4 min.

    Keep the heat low: 'nduja is high in sugar from the chilli and will catch and turn bitter if the pan is too hot.

  3. Stir in the and cook it into the fat for a moment, then add the crushed tomatoes, the and a pinch of the . Simmer gently, stirring now and then, until the sauce is glossy and thick and the oil has separated back out at the edges, about 15 min. Taste; add the only if it is sharp. Finely grate the and chop the so everything is ready when the pasta lands.

    If the sauce gets too thick, splash in a little of the pasta water rather than more oil.

  4. Scoop out a mugful of the pasta water, then drain the . It should still have a firm bite in the middle.

  5. Tip the pasta into the pan of sauce and toss hard over medium heat, adding splashes of the reserved pasta water until the sauce turns silky and coats every piece, about 2 min. Fish out the garlic cloves and discard them.

    Keep tossing: the starch in the water is what makes the sauce cling instead of sitting in the bottom of the pan.

  6. Divide between warm bowls, scatter over the and a heavy dusting of the , and eat immediately while the chilli is still humming.

    Do not oversalt at the table until you have tasted it: both the 'nduja and the pecorino are already salty.

▶ Start cook mode

Make it a meal

What hits hardest next to it.