Sacla' Italian Calabrian 'Nduja Pesto, 90 g, (Pack of 1)

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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. This amazing pesto makes pasta dishes special but not only that, it's perfect for transforming everyday dishes into complete banquetes! 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. 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. 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.

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. In Calabria, ’nduja is typically made with just a few ingredients: the pork shoulder, pork belly and tripe of Calabrian pigs, local salt, and roasted spicy red peppers from Calabria, which give the sausage paste its vibrant red colour. By 2015, ’nduja was getting used in restaurant kitchens all over the world, and not just Italian, but kitchens as diverse as that of British chef Jason Atherton in the UK and April Bloomfield at The Spotted Pig in the USA. British retailer Marks & Spencer, whose Calabrian-made Spicy Nduja and Tomato Pasta Sauce was “flying off the shelf”, called nduja the “ingredient of the moment”.Bring a 20cm or 8" saucepan of water to a boil and season it generously with salt (1½ teaspoons for a pan this size). Whilst the potatoes are baking just take 5 minutes to chop up the mozzarella balls into cubes and mix them with the Nduja pesto.

Nduja Pesto: If you can’t find ‘Nduja pesto at your local supermarket, then sundried tomato pesto with minced chorizo is a great alternative. 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. Plus we certainly don't want a boring filling. We want something to liven up our evening, and tastebuds.

Whenever I make gnocchi, I tend to gravitate towards tomato-based sauces with a hint of spice. ‘Nduja, which is very similar to Chorizo, is one of my go-to spicy sausages as it adds a wonderfully deep and rich flavour to anything it’s added to. Drain the pasta reserving around 75ml (⅓ Cup) of the cooking liquid, then add the drained pasta to the nduja and tomato mix.