Both the ‘Nduja and pesto have quite intense flavours, so I love adding a dash of crème fraîche to help balance everything out (namely the spice from the ‘Nduja). It also enhances the creaminess of the potato itself. If you’ve not heard of ‘Nduja before, it’s quite similar to chorizo in flavour. Originating from Italy, ‘Nduja is a spicy pork sausage with an extremely soft texture. This soft texture means it’s able to melt seamlessly into sauces for an a gorgeously intense flavour.

But ’nduja can also be served alongside your favourite cured meats and cheeses on a charcuterie board or cheese board if you’re entertaining. You can also add some nduja to an omelette or scrambled eggs, an eggs dish such as Terence’s Calabrian take on eggs in purgatory, an Italian salad, or your favourite tomato-based pasta sauce. 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.

More to discover

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. Baked to perfection, the gnocchi absorbs the flavoursof the sauce while retaining their tender interior. The dish emerges from the oven with a beautifully bronzed top that promises a delightful crunch with every forkful. As you delve into this culinary creation, you’ll find the heat of the ‘Nduja harmonising with the warmth of the oven-baked gnocchi, creating a balance that’s both comforting and exhilarating. This amazing pesto makes pasta dishes special but not only that, it's perfect for transforming everyday dishes into complete banquetes!

This recipe was inspired in part by one of my favourite bloggers, Half Baked Harvest and her Baked Gnocchi Bolognaise recipe. I had never really thought about doing a gnocchi bake before, but it makes complete sense. Especially as pasta bakes in our house are few and far between.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? Baked sweet potatoes have to be one of the easiest foods to prepare and they're cheap and filling too.

minutes before the pasta is ready add the tomatoes, the aim is not to cook the tomatoes but to heat them through, Sleepy Spilinga sits on a plateau in the Calabrian province of Vibo Valentia, overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. If you imagine Italy’s boot-shaped peninsula, Spilinga sits on top of the big toe. While there are a few historic sights to see, there’s not enough to hold you here for a night. 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’.The best place to buy ’nduja is at its source in Calabria, where it’s actually called ’nduja di Spilinga or ’nduja of Spilinga. In the southwest of the Southern Italian region of Calabria, the small village of Spilinga is the birthplace of ’nduja and remains the centre of production. While it’s thought that the name ’nduja, which might once have been ‘anduja’, suggests that the Calabrian specialty was derived from the French ‘andouille’, which might have been introduced to Calabria in the 13th century by the Angevins, the only thing the two sausages share is that they’re smoked.