’Nduja is a spicy cured pork paste from Calabria in Italy and I always have it in the fridge. You can buy it in a chunk, like a sausage, or sometimes in a jar. It’s a lovely way to add a rich heat to dishes.
Often I’ll start with the ’nduja and fry it off, then use the fat as a way to cook other things. Fry it so you get that lovely red fat, then cook your eggs in that. Or I like to add cubed potatoes, to make what Americans might call home fries. That’s a proper brunch.
I use it in pastas or put it on pizzas – really nice. I fry ’nduja with a bit of extra garlic – who doesn’t love garlic? – and toss that through rigatoni, my favourite pasta. Then I tear over burrata. It’s creamy, spicy, flavourful – my go-to easy dinner.
It’s great with vegetables – cabbage, broccoli, even roasted tomatoes. I like to blanch then fry my vegetables, and I’ll have some ’nduja in the pan before tossing in tenderstem broccoli – beautiful. Cabbage is really good with it, that crunch with the spicy flavour. You can also add it to soups and stocks for a rich umami flavour. Or use it in sauces, say if you want to make gravy a little differently.
I used to be a chorizo girl, but ’nduja is the grown-up version – a bit spicier, a bit naughtier, a bit… paste-ier.
Poppy O’Toole is the author of Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious Air Fryer Cookbook (Bloomsbury, £20)
