Calabria | All Things Sicilian and more

MINESTRA MARITATA, 2

Minestra Maritata is from Calabria. Maritata in the Calabrese/Calabrian dialect means married.

It is an odd name for a soup and as Danielle Alvarez says in the introduction of her recipe, it has nothing to do with marriage. I was very happy to see a version of Danielle Alvarez’ s recipe for Minestra Maritata in The Age (March 30/2024 ). Not many people have written about this recipe and what Alvarez has written adds yet another layer to this mysterious traditional recipe. Alverez has added meatballs (polpette) and this seems appropriate and the version I ate in Adelaide a number of years ago was also presented with polpette that were served separately.

I too have written about Minestra Maritata after I ate it in a small restaurant called Minestra in Adelaide and I enjoyed researching it. Mine is more based for a peasant culture and is different, but then again there are bound to be local variations in all traditional recipes.

The article and recipe from: Danielle Alvarez, The Age (March 30/2024 ).

ALSO KNOWN as “minestra maritata” , this soup actually isn’t served at weddings; instead, its name refers to the beautiful “marrying” of flavours contained in the meaty broth, savoury meatballs, sweet vegetables and, of course, the pasta. Traditionally, this dish is made by first concocting a flavourful broth using chicken, beef and/or pork bones, then adding very small meatballs, pasta and endive (escarole) towards the end. If you’re short of time, use bought stock but remember to brown the meatballs before poaching them to provide the umami kick that store-bought stock sometimes lacks. If you can’t find endive, just use spinach. You’ll be making this on repeat throughout winter.

SERVES 4 FOR THE MEATBALLS

250g pork mince 250g beef or veal mince 1 egg

cup grated parmesan cheese,

plus more for serving 1 tsp dried oregano ½ tsp fine sea salt 2 garlic cloves, peeled and

grated on a microplane ½ cup dried breadcrumbs black pepper

FOR THE SOUP

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 onion, peeled and diced 2 celery stalks, finely diced 3 large carrots, peeled and finely diced 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped ¼ tsp dried chilli flakes (optional) pinch of salt ½ tsp fresh or dried rosemary leaves, finely chopped 1.5 litres chicken stock 1 parmesan rind ½ cup dried ditalini or orzo pasta 1 head endive, leaves separated and washed, or 280g baby spinach salt and black pepper

First, make your meatball mix by combining all the ingredients and mixing well. Use a teaspoon to scoop the mix (each ball is about a heaped teaspoon’s worth, so they’re quite small). Shape into balls and line up on a baking tray or large plate and keep shaping until all the mix is used up.

Heat a large soup pot or enamel-lined Dutch oven over medium/high heat. Add the olive oil and brown the meatballs on all sides. You will need to do this in a couple of batches so as not to overcrowd the pan. Remove the meatballs and set aside.

Next, add the chopped onion, celery, carrots, garlic and chilli flakes (if using). Add a good pinch of salt and cook over medium heat until the vegetables have softened and the onions are translucent (about 10-15 minutes). Add the rosemary and sizzle for a minute longer before you add the stock and parmesan rind. Bring to a simmer, then return the meatballs to the pot. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the dried pasta and cook until al dente (check the packet). When the pasta is al dente, add the endive or spinach and allow that to wilt into the soup (about 2 minutes). Discard the parmesan rind and check seasoning; adjust if necessary.

Ladle the soup into bowls and serve hot with extra grated parmesan cheese on top.

Marisa Raniolo Wilkins, All Things Sicilian and More, Post: Minestra Maritata, Date: 20/6/ 2018

Minesta in Italian means soup. But it does not stop there – minestrone is a thick soup and minestrina is a more delicate or thin soup. All minestre (plural) may or may not have pasta (or pastina) or rice or grains added to thicken them.

Then there is zuppa and this Italian word shares the common root with soupe (French), suppe (German) and sopa (Spanish and Portuguese). These days the differences between a minestra and a zuppa are probably interchangeable and there are always regional and cultural variations (as the Calabrese minestra below), but a zuppa relies on an accompaniment of a slice of bread; usually this is placed in the bowl and the zuppa is ladled on top. The bread soaks up the juice and therefore no pasta, or rice, or grains (barley, wheat) are needed. Traditionally, a zuppa has a broth base, whereas the liquid in a minesta is more likely to be water and relies on the vegetables, pulses, fish, meat (or smoked meat) for flavour. In modern times, recipes for minestra may include the addition of water, stock or broth as the liquid base .

So why am I taking such an interest in the specific Calabrese minestra?

I was recently in Adelaide and ate at Minestra, a small home style eatery in Prospect (Adelaide) and ordered minestra with my pork and veal and eggplant polpette.

The minestra in this case was presented less soupy and more like a side for the polpette, but it could also be ordered unaccompanied as a one course dish – with a little more liquid and more a like soup.

Minestra in Calabria takes on a different significance and is a traditional, peasant dish suited to the people who were used to working very hard on the land. And it does not use pasta in this dish … the Calabrese have a reputation for being different (I say this as a pun). This Calabrese minestra has a certain degree of austerity about it, it is not sophisticated or complicated and it is made from simple frugal ingredients – wild greens if possible, and if one was lucky, perhaps a little pork. It also contains beans – dried broad beans or borlotti or cannellini. Hence the description of this minestra being maritata (married in Calabrese dialect) – several green vegetables and the beans (and bits of pork) are ‘married’ or combined to produce a very thick, stew like soup. Some variations include potatoes and as for the pork, it can be fresh meat ribs or rind. I have also seen a recipe that includes the rind of grating cheese (pecorino) for flavourings.

In Calabria, as in Sicily, wild foraged greens are much appreciated and not just due to necessity (as they once were). In Australia we may not be familiar with the range of edible plants available or have access to as many, but we do have some very good, green, leafy vegetables that provide contrasting and strong flavours.

A mixture of three or four of seasonal, green, leafy vegetables, is sufficient – I am using endives (or escarole) and chicory, that are both bitter, cime di rapa (a brassica) for the mustard taste and sow thistle that was sold to me as milk thistle and tastes mild and grassy.

Endives:

Cime di Rapa, Chicory, Sow Thistle:

Wild fennel, amaranth, nettles are also wild greens that could be accessible to you or you may be growing borage in your garden.

I am going to be Italian when I write this recipe. There are no measurements for the ingredients but my photos can give you an indication and it is ‘cucina povera‘- peasant cooking – that is, use what you can get, make it to your taste, add as much liquid as you wish, but keep it thick.

Use a variety of green leafy seasonal vegetables – whatever you can get – go for combinations of taste – bitter, sweet, peppery, grassy, aniseed taste (as in fennel).

RECIPE for Minestra

Soak, cook pulses (borlotti, cannellini, dried broad beans) … or buy tinned beans if that is what you do. In my photo you will see that Ii have used black-eyed beans – this is not an Italian bean, but it is what I had on hand at the time and I do not think that my breaking of tradition mattered. Drain the pulses you intend to use. Keep the liquid (broth) in case you want to add it as the liquid for the minestra.

Clean the greens, separate them from any tough stems but keep the softer ones.

Soften the greens – boil them in as much or as little salted water as you cook all your green leafy vegetables. Drain them but reserve some liquid for the minestra. I did not have to discard any because I did not use much water to cook my greens.

Chop garlic ( I used quite a bit), sauté the drained greens, add beans. My ratio was about 2/3 greens and 1/3 beans.

Add chopped chilli at the same time as the garlic if you wish or serve chopped chilli or chilli paste separately (Calabresi a fond of pepper paste).

Add as much liquid as you wish, dish it up, drizzle some extra virgin oil on it and eat it with some good bread.

This post about Minestra Maritata was written much earlier and has more information, but mainly about the restaurant called Minestra. Unfortunately the restaurant is no longer there.

MINESTRA MARITATA, peasant soup from Calabria

Below, photo taken in Sicily and I was speaking to the gentleman collecting wild greens.

Collecting Sicilian edible wild greens in Agrigento

See recipe for the Sicilian Maccu – another of those peasant soups and this one has even more traditions than the Calabrese minestra.

This post has photos of wild greens in Sicily:

SICILIAN EDIBLE WEEDS and Greek VLITA

PASTA with ‘NDUJA, CIME DI RAPA and PORK SAUSAGES

‘Nduja is a good ingredient to have in one’s fridge to liven many recipes, especially pasta dishes.

I have been away from home recently, and what I really enjoy is coming up with a dish using ingredients that I have at home and need to be used. This must be one of the reasons I enjoy camping and we always eat so well.

INGREDIENTS

I had ‘nduja (a soft chilli-laden, soft salame from Calabria), a bunch of cime di rapa or rape (rape is plural of rapa) and some small and fabulous, pure pork sausages that I had cooked in some tomato salsa the day before. We had eaten most of these with polenta and these were left over.

PROCESS

What I did was simple. I braised the cime di rapa in some garlic and extra virgin olive oil as I do when I cook cime di rapa with pasta. Once cooked, I added the ‘nduja….probably too much, I love chilli but do others like it as much as I do? I could have used a half of the quantity and it still would have tasted great. The ‘nduja melts with the heat and coats the vegetables.

Next, I added the sausages and a small amount of tomato salsa. My mother often reminded me that I was making a pasta sauce rather than a soup, so I required only a small quantity of liquid.

I had rigatoni on hand, and some Sicilian pecorino pepato.

You will need to accept that it tasted vey good. So much so that I did not have time to take a photo of the finished pasta dish – it was gobbled up far too quickly by my two guests.

There are recipes for cooking with ‘nduja:

‘NDUJA, a spreadable and spicy pork salame from Calabria

SPAGHETTI with ‘NDUJA, SQUID, VONGOLE AND PAN GRATTATO

‘NDUJA and CALAMARI as a pasta sauce

’Nduja with squid

MINESTRA MARITATA, peasant soup from Calabria

So why am I taking such an interest in the specific Calabrese minestra?

I was recently in Adelaide and ate at Minestra, a small home style eatery in Prospect and ordered minestra with my pork and veal and eggplant polpette – the minestra in this case was presented less soupy and more like a side for the polpette, but it could also be ordered unaccompanied as a one course dish – with a little more liquid and more a like soup. It is not only the food that I like at this eatery where the daily menu is chalked on a black board, and when they run out of a dish, they erase it. The other exciting change to the menu is that it can feature produce the locals bring in … YES, like the sign below says: locals are invited to bring in their produce.

Minestra’s owner and head chef is Sandy Cenin (as you can see by the surname there is a bit of northern Italian in him) and his grandmother is Calabrese.

Inspired by Sandy’s minestra, once home in Melbourne, I was determined to conduct some research and to make it.

I bought this mixture of greens from my regular fruttivendolo at the Queen Victoria Market (see photo below). If I had foraged for dandelions (bitter taste) or wild broccoletii (wild brassica) I would have used these instead of the more conventional chicory, escarole (bitter) or cime di rapa (mustard).

There are many brassicas that could be suitable – kohlrabi (root and leaves), cabbage, kale (not Italian, but who cares!), cavolo nero, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts (not a Calabrese vegetable)and cabbage.

Wild fennel, amaranth, nettles are also wild greens that could be accessible to you or you may be growing borage in your garden (photo below).

Use a variety of green leafy seasonal vegetables – whatever you can get – go for combinations of taste – bitter, sweet, peppery, grassy, aniseed taste (as in fennel).

RECIPE for minestra

Soak, cook pulses (borlotti, cannellini, dried broad beans) … or buy tinned beans if that is what you do. In my photo you will see that i have used black-eyed beans – this is not an Italian bean, but it is what I had on hand at the time and I do not think that my breaking of tradition mattered. Drain the pulses you intend to use. Keep the liquid (broth) in case you want to add it as the liquid for the minestra.

Clean the greens, separate them from any tough stems but keep the softer ones.

Chop garlic ( I used quite a bit), sauté the drained greens, add beans. My ratio was about 2/3 greens and 1/3 beans.

Add chopped chilli at the same time as the garlic if you wish or serve chopped chilli or chilli paste separately (Calabresi a fond of pepper paste).

Add as much liquid as you wish, dish it up, drizzle some extra virgin oil on it and eat it with some good bread.

See recipe for the Sicilian Maccu – another of those peasant soups and this one has even more traditions than the Calabrese minestra.

‘NDUJA and CALAMARI as a pasta sauce

‘Nduja is a spicy, spreadable, pork salame originating from Calabria and is appearing on just as many menus and recipes as chorizo as an ingredient.

Chorizo and ’nduja do play similar culinary roles — adding heat, depth, richness and a lovely red hue to dishes — but they come from different traditions and behave differently in cooking. Here’s what they have in common:

What chorizo and ’nduja share

1. Pork-based, chilli-driven cured products

Both are made primarily from pork, and both rely on chilli for flavour, colour and gentle (or not-so-gentle!) heat.

2. Paprika/pepper–rich seasoning

Spanish chorizo uses pimentón (sweet, hot, or smoked paprika), while Calabrian ’nduja uses peperoncino.
Different chillies, but both produce: a deep brick-red colour, a smoky or fruity heat, a rich aroma when heated.

3. High-fat mixtures that melt beautifully

Both rely on a good amount of pork fat: Chorizo releases seasoned fat when cooked, ’Nduja essentially is a spicy, spreadable fat
Either way, they enrich sauces, soups and braises.

4. Versatile “flavour builders”

In cooking, both act almost like a seasoning: Melt into pasta sauces, Flavour beans, lentils, stews,Work with seafood (especially prawns, mussels, cuttlefish), Pair well with potatoes, eggs, and greens.

5. Traditional, regional farmhouse products

Both originate as rustic, home-cured, regional foods: Chorizo: Spain (with Portuguese chouriço as a cousin), ’Nduja: Calabria, especially Spilinga.

Each reflects local ingredients — paprika in Iberia, peperoncino in Calabria.

The main difference is texture: chorizo is firm and sliceable, while ’nduja is soft, spreadable and melts almost instantly into sauces. Chorizo gives you bites of seasoned meat; ’nduja gives you a silky, smoky warmth that flavours a whole dish. Different personalities, but the same family — and both guaranteed to make food taste bigger, bolder and more interesting.

Chorizo is a firm, sliceable sausage, while ’nduja is a soft, spreadable, intensely spicy fermented paste — but both deliver pork, chilli and smoky depth to whatever you cook and both guaranteed to make food taste bigger, bolder and more interesting.

A recipe for Calamari and ‘Nduja or chorizo

CALABRIA and INTRODUCTION

Calabria, the rugged toe of Italy’s boot, has always been defined by the sea. With nearly 780 kilometres of coastline — from the Tyrrhenian to the Ionian — the region’s cooking draws deeply on fishing, preserving, and coastal trade that have shaped Calabrian life for more than two thousand years.

Along the coasts, small fishing villages such as Scilla, Pizzo, Tropea, Soverato, and Chianalea lived by the catch: swordfish, anchovies, sardines, octopus, calamari, prawns, and mussels. Much of this seafood was eaten fresh, but equally important were the ancient preserving traditions — salting, drying, fermenting, and bottling — which allowed communities to survive winter scarcity and seasonal storms. Calabrians became masters of stretching simple ingredients into deeply flavoured dishes.

Throughout history, Calabria sat on key Mediterranean trade routes. Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, and Spanish brought spices, citrus, wheat, and new techniques. The most revolutionary arrival was the chilli pepper, introduced from the Americas in the 16th century. Calabrians adopted it with enthusiasm, using it to season and preserve everything from seafood to pork. Over time it became a defining flavour of the region, giving birth to iconic foods such as ’nduja, the fiery, spreadable salume of Spilinga, often combined with seafood to create rich, coastal dishes full of heat and depth.

Seafood today remains central to Calabrian cooking. Families still prepare traditional dishes such as Calamari with ‘nduja.

If you don’t have ’nduja on hand, Spanish chorizo makes an excellent alternative. It brings the same paprika-rich warmth and savoury depth, just with a firmer texture. Either way, this dish is quick, rustic, and full of personality — the kind of simple coastal cooking you’d find in a trattoria overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea.

CALABRESE Calamari with ’Nduja (or Chorizo) and Tomato

INGREDIENTS

Calabrese Pasta with Calamari, ’Nduja & Tomato

Calamarata ’nduja e calamari — spicy, rich and deeply southern Italian.

Calamarata (sometimes misspelled calamata) is a short, thick, ring-shaped pasta that looks like slices of calamari(squid rings).
It is a traditional pasta shape from Campania, especially around Naples, but it is now popular throughout southern Italy — including Calabria — for pairing with seafood.

Ingredients (4 servings)

400 g pasta
Traditional: calamarata
Alternatives: paccheri, mezze maniche, or spaghetti
500–600 g calamari, cleaned and cut into rings (tentacles included)
2–3 tsp ’nduja
(Adjust depending on heat level and strength of your ’nduja) OR (or 100g chorizo, diced small)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 small red onion or shallot, finely chopped
200–250 g cherry tomatoes, halved
or 1 cup tomato passata
½ glass dry white wine
1 tbsp tomato paste (optional but deepens flavour)
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of Calabrian peperoncino (optional extra heat)
Fresh parsley, chopped
Optional:
- A few capers (very Calabrian)
- Lemon zest

Method

Prepare the calamari

Clean well, pat dry and cut into 1–1.5 cm rings.
Leave tentacles whole or halve them.

Sauté the aromatics

Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan.
Add onion and cook gently until soft and translucent.
Add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.

Add the ’nduja or chorizo
- If using ’nduja: let it melt into the onions, stirring until it becomes a rich red paste. If using chorizo: fry the diced pieces until they release their paprika-coloured oil into the onion mixture until you have a deep red, fragrant base.

Add the calamari

Increase heat slightly and add the calamari.
Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Cook for 2–3 minutes until opaque.
Add the white wine and let it evaporate.

Build the sauce Add:

tomatoes or passata
tomato paste (optional)
capers (if using)
a pinch of Calabrian chilli
Simmer gently for 20–25 minutes.

Calamari should be soft and tender, not rubbery.
Add a splash of water if the sauce thickens too much.

I have already written a post about ‘NDUJA and a recipe for ‘Nduja and Squid as a pasta sauce – SPAGHETTI with ‘NDUJA, SQUID, VONGOLE AND PAN GRATTATO. If you enjoy spicy food, it is worth doing.

See vegetable: CIME DI RAPE

‘NDUJA, SQUID, VONGOLE AND PAN GRATTATO with Spaghetti

In a restaurant in London recently I ordered a plate of Spaghetti alla Chitarra – square cut spaghetti that was cooked with some very spicy pork sausage. Square cut spaghetti are popular in Abruzzo, but also in Molise, Lazio and Puglia and obviously can now be found elsewhere in the world.

I had also found them on a menu in Marin County a year before London. There I ordered Rustichella d’Abruzzo Chitarra with Manila clams, Pacific squid and ‘Nduja with anchovy and breadcrumbs (this is how it was written on the menu).

There is a little bit of Italian regional fusion in this dish:

The pasta is from Rustichella d’Abruzzo – a pasta manufacturer in the central region of Abruzzo on the Adriatic coast, famous because it uses traditional methods for quality pasta production and quality ingredients. For example the durum wheat is from growers in Italy as well as Canada and Australia. The Italian square-cut spaghetti was originally shaped by the dough being rolled over a box strung with guitar strings (chitarra= guitar) to create the straight edges. Now of course, it is all machine made.

‘Nduja is a spicy, soft spreadable salame from Calabria.

The use of toasted breadcrumbs as a topping for pasta is both Calabrese and Sicilian.

I do not have a recipe from the restaurant for Rustichella d’Abruzzo Chitarra with Manila clams, Pacific squid, ‘Nduja and anchovy and breadcrumbs, however, I have a pretty good palate and a sharp sense of smell. This is my interpretation of this recipe.

The estimation of amounts and is based on my tastes and preferences.

Recipe for 6 people

Breadcrumbs, anchovies and garlic mixture (often called pangrattato in Italian) is used to sprinkle on top of the dish instead of cheese.

1 cup bread crumbs made from 1-2 day old good quality bread
⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil, more if needed
6 anchovies, chopped finely
1 garlic clove, chopped finely

In a fry pan (I use a non stick one) heat the oil, add the anchovies and toss them around for about 30 seconds before adding the garlic. Stir over medium heat until fragrant – the anchovies will break up and ‘dissolve’ into the oil.

Add breadcrumbs and continue to stir them until the crumbs are golden and toasted. Remove from the pan when they are ready otherwise they will continue to cook; set aside until you wish to use them.

700g of squid sliced into rings (optional – add 200g of vongole or clams without their shell per person )– adjust to your tastes.
150g of’ ‘Nduja (add more if you like more spice)
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1-2 red onions, sliced thinly
2-3 tablespoons of passata

In a frypan sauté the onion in the olive oil. When it is soft and golden add the ‘Nduja and stir gently on low heat until it is dissolved. Add the squid and toss it around till it is transparent and cooked (I do not cook squid for long). Add the passata half way through cooking, stir over medium-low heat until you have the consistency of a thick tomato sauce. You may need to add a little more liquid if necessary.

400 g spaghetti. Use good quality durum wheat spaghetti. The recommended amount on packets is 100 g per person. I always think that this is far too much especially for a first course, but adapt amounts accordingly. If you increase the amount of pasta you could also increase the amount of squid.

Cook the pasta, drain it and dress it with the sauce.
Dish it out into separate plates or into a large serving plate, top with the breadcrumb mixture and serve.

I have written about ‘Nduja in an earlier post. See: Nduja, A Spreadable and Spicy Pork Salame From Calabria

‘NDUJA, a spreadable and spicy pork salame from Calabria

‘Nduja is a spreadable salame that has become very popular.

‘Nduja seems to be the most recent, Italian culinary discovery in Australia… and I hope that it will not be anything like the craze (in the 70’s and 80’s?) of restaurants including bocconcini or dried tomatoes in anything Italian.

THE USE OF CHILLI IN CALABRIAN CUISINE

I always associate Calabrese cooking with chilli and perhaps unfairly, but my impressions were probably shaped many, many years ago when I was teaching in a country town on the Murray River in South Australia.

As a teenager I had been a guest to Vincenzo’s wedding in Adelaide (an acquaintance of my father). Many years later I caught up with him, his wife and children who had moved to a farm in Pyap, a small community near Loxton, and close to where I was living and teaching at that time.

Like all Italians they were very hospitable and generous and I had many opportunities to sample their cuisine, but it seemed that everything I ate at their place seemed to contain chilli – fresh or preserved in a paste, or dried and then used as flakes or ground into a powder.

Similar to many Calabrese families (and other Italians mainly from southern Italy) they slaughtered a pig and made their smallgoods.

Chilli was part of all of the fresh sausages and the smallgoods that this family made but they also smeared a thick coating of powdered chilli on the surface all of their homemade smallgoods (those made with minced pork and the non minced ones, for example capocollo and prosciutto). I was told that food without chilli seemed flavourless, but more important was that a coating of chilli acts as a seal, a barrier, it repels lies and is therefore a powerful and natural preservative.

MY ASSOCIATIONS WITH ‘NDUJA

A few years ago I was not surprised when I first read about the amount of chilli in the Calabrian ‘Nduja. I remember that I first encountered this spicy, spreadable sausage in the mountains in Calabria about 16 years before. I did not know then, that it was to become a taste-sensation in Australia many years later.

My brother and I had been to Sicily to visit an old aunt and then we went to Calabria to visit Vince – a worker friend of my father’s and an old soccer mate of my brother’s. Vince is short for Vincenzo and is a very common Calabrese name as he is the Patron Saint of Calabria.

Vince was the perfect host and drove us to visit many scenic beaches and mountainous areas in Calabria. We went to the Sila and drove through thickly wooded areas of oak, pine, beech, fir and chestnut trees where wild boars and porcini mushrooms thrive. In the mountains we visited monasteries and ancient chapels and ate in famous restaurants that featured the local produce (including a liqueur made by the monks from the wild mountain herbs). In these mountains we also visited a salumeria (produce store specializing in local produce and smallgoods) and that is where I first experienced ‘Nduja. I am sorry to say that I did not pay much attention to the ‘Nduja. because I was more excited by the local wild boar prosciutto and the dark and typical bread made with chestnut flour.

There is another interesting experience related to ‘Nduja. About six months ago I received an email from a person living in Malaysia who had found me through my blog. His daughter had toured through parts of Italy and loved ‘Nduja; she was getting married in Adelaide and he wanted to surprise her at her wedding by providing ‘Ndjua for the guests. He wondered if I knew where he could buy ‘Nduja in Adelaide and of course I knew – from Mercato, an Italian produce store in the suburb of Campbelltown. I hope that I made several people very happy.

WHAT TO DO WITH ‘NDUJA

‘Nduja is cured in the same way as salame, but because of the high fat content (it is made from the fatty parts of the pig), it maintains a soft texture, is like a coarsely ground pâté and it is spreadable at room temperature. The dark, red colour is due to the large quantities of chillies .

We had it spread on fresh bread; a generous smear is enough.

Having it simply spread on bread is a start and we enjoyed it immensely. As you can see we also accompanied it with a dry Martini – this is not a drink that I would imagine Calabresi would have with ‘Nduja, but now and again I enjoy breaking convention.

RECIPE – Dressing for pasta – Sugo with ‘Nduja

Next time you make sugo (pasta sauce/ ragout),add some ‘Nduja to it as the Calabresi often do.

INGREDIENTS AND PROCESSES

My sugo (sauce) is made with peeled tomatoes/ 1 bottle of passata, extra virgin olive oil, 1 onion, 3 pork sausages, 500g cubed pork and beef, 2 or more tablespoons of Njuda and oregano.

Sauté chopped onion in some extra virgin olive oil.

Add sausages (cut into large pieces), meat, Nduja and sauté these ingredients until light brown.

Add tomatoes and oregano, season with salt and pepper, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer the sauce until cooked.

Cook and dress a short-type pasta (for example: penne or rigatoni, shells, fusilli) with the sauce.

Serve the dressed pasta with grated pecorino cheese.

P.S. I should add that in Melbourne, I was able to buy ‘Nduja at Bill’s Farm in the Queen Victoria Market and at The Mediterranean, Italian Supermarket in Victoria Street.

‘NDUJA, was considered peasant food in Calabria

PASTA with ‘NDUJA, CIME DI RAPA and PORK SAUSAGES

PASTA WITH BREADCRUMBS, anchovies and fennel (Pasta cca muddica)

This very simple but very impressive and tasty recipe for Pasta with breadcrumbs, anchovies and fennel is eaten in Calabria and in Sicily

GUS AND CARMEL AT THE QVM

I live in an apartment in Melbourne and have a balcony where I can only grow herbs. Fortunately I am very close to the Queen Victoria Market – it is my stamping ground. I am able to buy bulb fennel and bunches of leafy fennel (fronds attached) at one of my favourite stalls: B Shed, Stall 61- 63) in the Queen Victoria Market.

The stall is owned by Gus and Carmel and they grow some of their produce. Gus is Calabrese. He knows that I cook Sicilian food and I like to use this type of fennel for my Sicilian Pasta con le sarde that includes wild fennel as one of the ingredients. It is frequently used in Sicilian food to add a particular aniseed taste to many dishes.

We are not able to buy bunches of wild fennel (finucchiu sarvaggiu in Sicilian) in Australia and not everybody can go out and forage for it – you will recognise the plants by the strong aniseed smell and taste, strong green colour and fine fern like fronds. I collect the soft, young shoots of this plant, recognised by their lighter colour. This fennel is unlike the Florentine fennel and has no bulb. Because of its strong smell and taste, animals and insects tend not to eat it, so it can be prolific. I always ensure that the plant looks healthy before I collect it, after all it is a weed and it could have been sprayed. If I were to grow wild fennel in my garden I would collect the seeds (yellow flower heads) which when dry develop into seeds and plant them.

But for those of you who cannot get wild fennel there is some salvation. At the end of the fennel season the fennel plant produces some flat bulbs, which never mature.

GUS’S Recipe for PASTA WITH BREADCRUMBS, ANCHOVIES AND FENNEL

Gus has given me his recipe for one of his favourite pasta recipes. It is cooked with anchovies, fennel fronds and topped with fried breadcrumbs. He tells me it is Calabrese (from Calabria).

I say that it is also Sicilian and in Sicilian it is called ‘Pasta cca muddica’.

But Gus forgets that he has already given me this recipe, he gives it to me every year when I buy the immature bunches of fennel from him.

For recipe see:Pasta con Finocchio

EXCELLENT ADDITIONS TO PASTA CON FINOCCHIO

What I do not tell Gus is that in some parts of Sicily they add grated lemon peel and in the Aeolian islands they add capers and in Siracusa green olives. There are also versions where it is made without the fennel. Simple, but all good.
Very Good.

PASTA CON FINOCCHIO (Pasta and fennel – preferably wild)

No it is not wild fennel, it just looks like it.

I found this bunch of fennel at one of my favourite stalls in the Queen Victoria market this week. Apart from many other vegetables, I always buy my cime di rape, radicchio, chicory, kale, broadbeans, coloured cauli, violet eggplants – name any of the out of the norm vegetables and this is where I go: to Gus and Carmel’s. I even bought some milkweed this morning. This is where I also buy my vlita – another weed.

At the end of the fennel season (and it is well and truly this in Victoria, Australia) the fennel plant (called Florentine fennel) produces some flat bulbs, which never mature.

My friend Libby who grows fennel in her wonderful garden in the Adelaide Hills first alerted me to these flat bulbs last year – at the time we thought that this would be very suitable to use with pasta con le sarde which includes wild fennel as one of the ingredients. After speaking to her I saw some bunches of these small flat bulbs for sale at the Queen Victoria Melbourne Market. And here they were again for sale today. I spoke to the vendor (Gus) who said that rather than wasting them he thought that he could try to sell bunches of them. This fennel may become very marketable – good on you Gus.

Gus is Calabrese. He knows that I like to use this type of fennel for my Sicilian pasta con le sarde, but he told me how he uses the fennel to make a pasta sauce and he uses anchovies.

He slices the whole plant finely (the green fronds and non-developed bulbs) and cooks it all in some boiling water with a little salt. Then he drains it well.

Anchovies are the secret ingredient.

In a large frypan dissolve a few chopped anchovies in some hot extra virgin olive oil (the anchovies are crushed using a wooden or metal spoon until they melt in the oil).

Add the garlic (chilli is optional). Add the cooked fennel and toss it in extra virgin olive oil and flavours. This is your pasta sauce.

Sicilians would select bucatini. Calabresi may use spaghetti or a short pasta shape.

Present the pasta dressed with the fennel, topped with toasted breadcrumbs (the alternative to grated cheese not only in Sicily, but obviously also in Calabria).

For bread crumbs: use 1-3 day old white bread (crusty bread, sourdough or pasta dura).

Remove crust, break into pieces, place into a food processor and make into coarse crumbs. They can be crumbled with fingertips or grated. The term for breadcrumbs, in Italian is pane grattugiato/ grattato – it means grated bread.

Heat about ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan and add 1 cup of coarse breadcrumbs (see above). Stir continuously on low temperature until an even, golden brown.

Obviously if you do not have access to someone who has fennel growing in their garden, or to wild fennel, or to Gus and Carmel’s stall you may need to use bulb fennel with as much green frond as you can get. Nearly as good, but not quite!!

I also bought this garlic at the same time – Gus and Carmel, heroes!

MA2SBAE8REVW

Tag: Calabria

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