By Meredith Hayden
Dinner

Calabrian Carbonara

February 22, 2022

A twist on your classic Carbonara with the addition of Calabrian Chilis and ‘Nduja.

‘Nduja is a salume (salami if you will) that is native to the region of Calabria in southern Italy. It is unique for its spreadable quality, almost mousse like. It contains a combination of prosciutto and speck (smoked proscuitto) flavored with Calabrian chilis (my favorite). Nduja is fully cured like your standard salami, so it can be consumed as is. However, cooking it off in a bit of oil wakes up all of the flavors.
In a standard carbonara, you have bites of crispy pork and rendered pork fat emulsified into the sauce. By subbing in ‘nduja in place of guanciale, the pork flavor is distributed throughout the sauce giving it more nuance. The result is a carbonara that’s even more rich, velvety, porky, and spicy.

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Calabrian Carbonara

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Ingredients

  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 3 tbsp nduja
  • 1 clove garlic grated
  • 1 tbsp chopped Calabrian chilis
  • ⅓ cup freshly grated parmesan or pecorino I like doing half and half
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • ½ pound dried spaghetti
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook your pasta in the salted boiling water according to package directions. Reserve ¼ cup of pasta water.
  2. While the pasta cooks, make your sauce. In a small bowl combine the egg yolks, grated cheese, and a pinch of salt and black pepper. Set aside.
  3. Heat a medium – large pan over medium heat. Add the olive oil and 'nduja. Break up the 'nduja as it cooks. Add the grated garlic and Calabrian chilis and cook for another minute. Turn off the heat.
  4. Add about 1 tbsp of hot pasta water to the egg mixture while stirring to temper the eggs.
  5. Transfer cooked pasta directly to the pan with the 'nduja. The pan should be warm but not hot, and the heat should be completely off. Add the tempered egg mixture to the pasta and stir vigorously to keep the eggs from scrambling. Add the butter and additional pasta water as needed while you stir. Once your sauce is glossy and emulsified, serve immediately.
  6. I like to top the plated pasta with more grated cheese and a drizzle of Calabrian chili oil.

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What do you think of this recipe?

So so many layers of flavor in this dish! I’d never had nduja until I made this pasta and it adds such a great flavor and balances the creaminess out perfectly. I used bucatini noodles instead and it was perfect. Super easy to make too!

Made this dish for ten friends and they all loved it! I doubled the sauce amounts to make enough for ten and it was delicious!

This is my new favorite pasta dish 😍 thank you

I ate this and it was delightful. Highly recommend for pasta lovers around the world. Tremendous depth in flavor