Fileja with nduja sauce 

Do you know nduja? Nooooooooo?

Prepare the fire extinguisher! 

The nduja is one of the most famous among the typical Calabrian food products. The 'nduja (attention: nduja, not nduia or anduia!) is a soft, spreadable, spicy salami. The name nduja comes from the French "andouille", which means "sausage". However, it is not a sausage, however much it may resemble it. The nduja is made with pork, a little fat, and a lot of hot pepper. And it is precisely because of the abundant chili pepper that the nduja is very spicy. It is no coincidence that someone might prefer a "light" version. The nduja has a color tending to red – needless to say – due to the presence of chili, and a consistency that even after seasoning becomes hard. It is almost superfluous to underline how nduja, thanks to the exquisite taste and spicy due to so much chili, is considered by some to be an aphrodisiac. You can also be skeptical about it, but surely the nduja has beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system.

If you have never tried Fileja pasta and manage to buy it (or make it), do so. This is really is one of the best types of pasta for heavy meat or spicy sauces, especially when the pasta is fresh. Usually 3 to 4mm thick at most, and slightly light yellow in color, Fileja are shaped like a screw which has been elongated. Some people also refer to them as fusilli, but they are actually quite different in shape to the fusilli most of us know and eat. Fileja were and still are mostly eaten as fresh homemade pasta. They are made using a method which has been passed down from generation to generation. Like many Southern Italian homemade pastas, they were originally produced from poor and simple ingredients, just wheat flour, water and salt and no eggs. In fact, most fresh pasta in Calabria is made without eggs. Today you can, of course, buy this pasta ready-made (dry or fresh) and I’ve even seen ‘flavored’ versions such as ‘chili fileja’. However, I think I prefer the unflavored version. I’d rather put the chili in the sauce!  

Well, let's move on to the recipe

The ingredients vary according to how much you eat and your degree of tolerance of spicy... I usually joke... then you do also, maybe! 🙂

Put the water for the pasta on the fire. In a large pan pour the simple sauce that you have made by frying a little red onion and pouring fresh tomato or ready-made sauce and cooking it until it is a little narrow. Salt the water and throw the pasta in this case the fileja, typical pasta of the area. Add to the sauce as much nduja as you want and let it melt over low heat. Drain the pasta and sauté it for a minute in a pan, cover with pecorino Romano In the 'nduja, at the third forkful you will begin to cry and wonder why you are eating it, desperately looking for a fire extinguisher... But you can't do without it. For real men.

Serve and enjoy your meal! 🙂