Photo by Sam A Harris.
One of the best things we ate this summer in London was at Padella in Soho. We ordered the fettuccine with ’nduja, lemon and mascarpone half expecting it to be too spicy, and it wasn’t at all. The mascarpone pulls the heat right down and leaves all the flavour of the sausage. We made it at home the following week.
It’s a super simple pasta, a handful of ingredients and about twenty minutes. The recipe is from Padella: Iconic Pasta at Home by Tim Siadatan. Order a copy here if you want the rest of the dishes you’d normally queue for.
“I’ve always wanted to make a pasta dish using ’nduja (pronounced en-do-yar) where the chilli didn’t blow your head off! In this recipe, the addition of mascarpone mellows the spiciness of the sausage and creates a smooth and creamy sauce, lending richness. The strength of ’nduja varies, so you may need to use a bit more or less – taste it first and adjust accordingly.
The acidity in the lemon brings balance, harmony and zing to the dish. It rarely comes off the menu at Padella.”
Fettuccine With 'Nduja, Lemon & Mascarpone
Ingredients
- 450 g fresh fettuccine
- 75 g ’nduja
- 500 g mascarpone
- Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 4 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- Sea salt
- Parmesan, finely grated, to finish
Instructions
- Put the ’nduja into a bowl and bring to room temperature, so it becomes malleable. Add the mascarpone and lemon zest and mix together until well combined to form a smoothish paste. (This can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 days.)
- For the pasta, in a large cooking pot, bring 4–5 litres water to the boil and add a fistful of salt.
- Put the ’nduja-mascarpone paste into a pan large enough to easily hold the cooked pasta. Add half a mug (about 120ml) of the seasoned pasta water and heat gently, stirring, to melt the paste and create a sauce. Take off the heat.
- Loosen the pasta bundles so they won’t stick together as they cook.
- Drop the fettuccine into the boiling water and cook for about 1–1½ minutes. Drain the pasta as soon as it’s ready, keeping two mugs of pasta water.
- Transfer the pasta to the ’nduja sauce and add half a mug (about 120ml) of pasta water, the lemon juice, chopped parsley and a pinch of salt.
- Stir vigorously for at least 30 seconds until all the ’nduja is mixed around the pasta and you have a smooth, creamy sauce. If the sauce is too dry, add splashes of the reserved pasta water to loosen it as you stir: you want it to be loose and for the strands of pasta to slide freely over each other, and for a layer of sauce to cover the bottom of the pan. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and/or pepper if required.
- Serve on hot plates with a creamy halo of sauce around the pasta. Finish with grated Parmesan.
Notes
Padella: Iconic Pasta at Home by Tim Siadatan is out 11 September (Bloomsbury Publishing, Hardback, £25) Photography by Sam A Harris