'Nduja and Broccoli Pasta

Spicy sausage and bitter greens are the perfect sauce

Italian-style ‘Nduja is trending lately in places like Roberta’s new slice joint, where it’s featured on the Fire and Ice pizza. The spicy meat paste has a lot in common with sausage, and might even be a distant relative of American-style pepperoni. What distinguishes ‘Nduja is that it has a consistency that is spreadable. The paste is made from meat and Calabrian chilis, making it very spicy.

‘Nduja and brocoli rabe cook down into a thin, spicy sauce perfect for pasta

We’ve been buying our ‘nduja in south Brooklyn at MozzLab, an Italian specialty shop with meats, cheeses, prepared foods, and imported products (worth a trip, and a good excuse to have ice cream from Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain across the street).

We based this on a New York Times recipe, but doubled the sausage and halved the broccoli. This recipe is pretty straight forward, and while we cooked it with broccoli rabe, any bitter green would work, including chard, spinach, and escarole.

RECIPE

Ingredients

• 8oz ‘Nduja

• 1 Onion

• 5 garlic cloves

• 1 bunch of Broccoli Rabe

• 1 lemon

• Olive oil

• Bread crumbs

Instructions

• Boil water

• Chop broccoli finely

• Boil broccoli in water

• Finely chop onion and garlic

• In oil, simmer onion and garlic until clear

• Add ‘nduja paste

• Continue cooking on low heat

• Remove broccoli from water adding to meat (reserve water for pasta)

• Cook pasta

• Gently toast breadcrumbs

• Add the cooked pasta to the meat (reserve pasta water)

• Stir the juice from one lemon into the pasta

• Add a small ladle of pasta water

• Top with with toasted breadcrumbs to serve

The pasta topped with toasted breadcrumbs; Parmigiana cheese is a good condiment to this, especially if the sausage is too spicy.