Nduja is a spreadable, spicy pork sausage that comes from the region of Calabria in southern Italy. For this delicious and easy recipe, I have made a tomato sauce with onions, peppers, and nduja, simmered to perfection, and stuffed inside paccheri pasta.
Paccheri is a very large tube-shaped pasta easy for stuffing and creating the most delectable, sauce-filled bites! Video link.
Chef notes:
I used gluten-free noodles but you may want to try using large shells or rigatoni tossed with the sauce instead of stuffed.
Yield: serves 2
Preparation time: 1 hour
Cook time: 35 minutes
1 tbsp canola oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
5 oz nduja sausage
14 oz can of tomato sauce (Pomodoro sauce)
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
7 oz dried paccheri pasta
½ ball fior di latte cheese (100g), sliced
2 oz parmesan cheese, grated
Preheat an oven to 375°F.
In a frying pan on high heat add the canola oil.
Add the onions and peppers to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to brown, about 5 minutes.
Add the garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes.
Tear the nduja sausage into pieces, add them to the pan, and mix.
Now, add the tomato sauce and turn the heat down to a low simmer.
Fill a separate saucepot with salted water and bring it to a boil on high heat.
Add the pasta and cook for 12–15 minutes. I have used gluten-free pasta for this recipe but use regular if you prefer and adjust the cooking time as instructed on the package.
Strain the cooked pasta and place it onto a tray to cool.
Turn the heat off the nduja sauce.
Add a small amount of the sauce to the bottom of an oven-proof dish.
Stand all the pasta shells hole side up, packed together to fill the dish.
Add the rest of the sauce to a piping bag and pipe sauce into each pasta shell.
Place the sliced fior di latte on top of the filled pasta and sprinkle with half of the grated parmesan.
Bake in the oven for 10–15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling. Remove the pasta from the oven, add the rest of the parmesan, and enjoy!
©chefalisonbiebs