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I’m in Tropea right now enjoying my holidays. I first came here 27 years ago, our family’s first vacation in the South of Italy. When I saw Tropea, called the pearl of Calabria, I fell desperately in love with the town. This place entered in my blood and I’m still not able to spend one year without coming here. It’s almost a physical pain if I don’t see it, it’s difficult to explain. Calabria is an untraveled region compared to Campania and Sicily, discovered by tourists not so long ago.  In this arid land everything has to fight to grow, but when it does it is marvelous. Palms, banana trees, figs, prickly pears, red onions famous world wide and red hot peppers, a lot of them. It’s a land with strong colors and big contrasts luxuriant and arid, imposing mountains descending to the seashore. Thanks to this diversity the cuisine is a combination of ingredients from the sea and mountains.

In the past centuries Calabria has been a land of conquerors: Romans, Normans, French, Sicilians,  Neapolitans, and with each the Calabrians adapted their dishes to their own taste often simplifying the ingredients, always using the products of their land and the sea exalting the simplest dishes with red hot pepper and with the aromas of basil, oregano, wild fennel and elderberry.

The cuisine of Calabria has a lot of typical dishes even if it has been strongly influenced by the neighboring regions like Campania and Sicily as well as its history.

A really famous product is ‘nduja from the French andouille that means sausage it’s a specialty from Spilinga a village near Tropea. It has the shape of a big salami, it’s smoked and creamy inside, made of pork pieces and a lot of red hot pepper. You can add it to your tomato sauce or spread it on slices of bread. It’s usually really spicy but they’re now selling a much milder version for tourists compared to the one I used to eat years ago. If you’re lucky enough to know some locals and taste the ‘nduja that they prepare for themselves, I can assure you that is a completely different story.

I always bring one small ‘nduja  home to Verona so I can have it all year long but as you can imagine when you eat it at home it tastes different, there’s no sea, no hot sun, not the same vegetation around.

My friends are not complaining though and are always looking forward for us to come back home and be invited for a Calabrese dinner. ‘Nduja is not the only product we bring home though we also love marmellata di cipolle a jam prepared with red onions, raisins and spices that we serve with slices of aged Pecorino after the pasta with ‘nduja. Olive schiacciate, (smashed olives) usually marinated in oil, garlic, red hot pepper and origano. Melanzane, eggplants that come in a jar peeled and thinly sliced flavored with garlic, oregano, vinegar and olive oil. We always buy, pasta di mandorle, almond paste a very important ingredient for our desserts. Antonio one of our favorite pastry makers prepares it fresh in small packages so if you don’t use it right away you can always freeze it. I usually shape the almond paste in small balls and coat them with semisweet melted chocolate then I refrigerate them and serve them cold but there are many other recipe to try.

Here’s instead how I make my ‘nduja sauce to season my pasta

Pasta with ‘Nduja Sauce

1/2 finely chopped red onion from Tropea of course
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 lb. natural tomato sauce or plum tomatoes
1 Tbsp. ‘nduja you can add more or less according to your taste
1 fresh mozzarella cut in cubes
1 lb. spaghetti*
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Warm up the oil in a skillet then add the onions and cook them until translucent. Add the tomato sauce and cook for about 30 minutes. Salt to taste and if it tastes too acid add a pinch of sugar. When ready I usually blend the sauce and add the ‘nduja. Let it simmer for about 15 more minutes until well combined.

In the meantime cook the spaghetti as directed and when ready add the tomato sauce and mix well. Pour the spaghetti in a serving bowl and add the mozzarella cut previously in cubes. Mix quickly and serve. You can sprinkle the spaghetti with Parmesan or Pecorino cheese.

You can add the quantity of ‘nduja you like, taste the sauce while you’re preparing it and decide how spicy and flavored you prefer it. It also depends a lot from the ‘nduja itself in fact not all are the same.

* In the picture above I used Fileja a typical pasta from Calabria.

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