Spilinga is not far from the more atmospheric hilltop town of Nicotera, where we stayed in an elegant albeit empty former palace (we were there off-season) with gorgeous gardens and sweeping views of the countryside out to sea, and headed down to the livelier beachside lower town of Marina di Nicotera, in the foothills, for dinner.

Nduja was named one of 2021’s trending ingredients by the UK supermarket Waitrose’s food magazine, although I have no idea how much influence that publication has, while The Weekend Australian Magazine’s newspaper’s food writer John Lethlean published a piece in mid-March this year called Nduja: this Spicy Calabrian Salami’s Fame is Spreading. Plus we certainly don't want a boring filling. We want something to liven up our evening, and tastebuds. Three years later, across the pond in the USA, Julia Moskin wrote in a New York Times piece called A Dollop of Salami, Spreading From Calabria about the underground producers and chefs in the USA, such as Chris Cosentino of Incanto in San Francisco, who were making their own ’nduja because the Calabrian paste could not be imported into the United States unless it was pasteurised.Moskin writes how “in 2009, nduja was the spicy underground taste that went mass market, making it the Lady Gaga of pork products. If nduja didn’t already exist, it might have been invented in a lab as the perfect food trend: it combines nose-to-tail eating, pork, smoke and chili heat.” She noted that it had been called “flaming liquid salami”, “spicy pork butter” and “the spreadable Italian love child of pepperoni and French rillettes”. My notebook from our guidebook research trip has a note beside a list of Calabrian specialties that ’nduja had been pronounced ‘dooj-ah’ by the woman I chatted to at a stall selling ‘salumi Calabrese’ – cured meats, sausages (salsiccia) and salami such as soppressata di Calabria, all handmade locally – at a morning market in seaside Diamante. Why Is Everyone Talking About ’Nduja Again?

Gnocchi: There’s no need for a particular type of gnocchi, nor brand. Use Gluten-Free, traditional, or any other flavour that has captured your eye. Spinach gnocchi is an amazing alternative in this recipe! This gnocchi and ‘Nduja bake is one of our go-to Friday night recipes. Because of how easy it is to whip up, as well as how comforting it is, this gnocchi and ‘Nduja bake is the perfect way to end the week. Let’s talk ingredients…So what is ’nduja? The spicy sausage paste is a traditional Calabrian pork product that originated in the village of Spilinga in the province of Vibo Valentia in Southern Italy’s region of Calabria. Calabrian food is fantastic and the region is a tantalising culinary destination that’s famous for everything from its fiery red peppers and sweet red onions from Tropea to its fantastic wild mushrooms. As this is an extremely filling pasta dish all you really need to go with it is a simple Mediterranean green salad of some mixed lettuce leaves and chopped assorted peppers.

Ten years ago we couldn’t even pronounce the word ’nduja (“Undo ya,” more or less),” Lethlean writes. Speak for yourself, John. “Now this Calabrian “salami” is in the larder of every self-respecting chef and home cook in the nation. How did that happen?” And how did it happen? This isn’t the first time that ’nduja has trended outside Italy. You see this pesto is actuallymade from 'Nduja, which is a particularly spicy, hot Italian salami. Similar to Spanish chorizo but hotter and made with plenty of local roasted hot red chilli peppers. Every restaurant, bar and shop in Marina di Nicotera seemed to sell ’nduja, as did delicatessens, supermarkets and gourmet food shops in every town and city across Calabria, especially tourist destinations, such as Tropea and Pizzo. If you’re not getting to Calabria on your next Italy trip, head to the finest salumeria you can find in Italian cities such as Naples, Rome, Florence, Milan, Modena, etc, and you should find yourself some ’nduja.You’ll frequently read that ’nduja is pronounced ‘en-doo-ya’, just to make sure that you don’t make the mistake of pronouncing that ‘j’. But it’s worth noting that once again, depending on the Calabrian dialect being spoken, that ‘j’ might be very much pronounced. As ‘Nduja cooks, it releases an intensely piquant pepper infused oil, that merges with the gnocchi and tomato sauce. Meanwhile, put the garlic in a mortar, add a large pinch of salt and crush to a paste. Add the thyme and walnuts, and crush the lot into breadcrumb-sized pieces. (If your mortar is small, pulse/blitz the ingredients in a small processor instead.) Folks, today I'm delighted to bring you this delicious pesto and mozzarella stuffed baked potatoes recipe. Now it seems Calabria’s fiery pork paste is popping up everywhere. We were even able to get our hands on some fantastic ’nduja here in Cambodia recently. We thought that was as good an excuse as any to tell you all about the Calabrese sausage paste and start a series on our best ’nduja recipes. As we publish the recipes, we’ll add links below under ‘How to Use ’Nduja’.

Bring a 20cm or 8" saucepan of water to a boil and season it generously with salt (1½ teaspoons for a pan this size). It certainly would have been possible to find ’nduja in Italian delicatessens in the Calabrian diasporas in Europe, USA, South America, and Australia – of the many millions of Italians who emigrated from the 1870s to 1970s, the majority were from Southern Italy’s regions of Calabria and Sicily – however, it wasn’t yet on restaurant menus around the world. So many stories about the spicy Southern Italian sausage paste start with how to pronounce ’nduja so let clarify a couple of things. While it’s thought that the apostrophe before the ‘n’ in ’nduja indicates that the ‘n’ is barely uttered, it’s worth noting that depending on the Calabrian dialect, it’s pronounced either as ‘en’ or not at all, as if the ‘n’ is silent. If you’ve read my Risotto alla Milanese recipe, then you’ll know that pasta isn’t a big feature in our home. Living in the North though means we still need our comfort food, and this gnocchi bake with ‘nduja is exactly that. Nduja Pesto: If you can’t find ‘Nduja pesto at your local supermarket, then sundried tomato pesto with minced chorizo is a great alternative.

Ingredients

We don't always have the time to spend making healthy pesto fillings ourselves do we? Especially after a long and hard day at work. It's especially suitable as a sauce. That's how I've used it here. Mixing it with tasty mozzarella cubes to create a unique and authentic Italian filling. minutes before the pasta is ready add the tomatoes, the aim is not to cook the tomatoes but to heat them through, Over the next few weeks – or as long as our precious Calabrian sausage paste lasts! – Terence is going to be sharing some of our favourite ’nduja recipes. As Terence publishes his recipes, we’ll tell you more about how you can use nduja and add links here. What is nduja, how do you use ’nduja and where do you buy ’nduja? Here’s our guide to Calabria’s spicy spreadable pork paste that is so beloved in its birthplace of Spilinga that they even have an annual Festival del ’Nduja or Festival of the Spicy Sausage Paste. This is the first post in a new ’nduja recipes series.