Bigoli in Salsa

My take on a little known Venetian Pasta.

Yes it’s brown. No it doesn’t look that sexy. But yes it tastes amazing and nothing like what this photo implies. Does that make it a sleeper dish? Perhaps, but for sure it’s a quick and flavorful pasta that uses few ingredients and comes together in 20 min.

It’s easy to go to Italy and eat what you perceive as Italian food. As one of the world’s most visited tourist destinations, it’s in their financial interest to cater to your needs. Pizza, for example, is sold in Venice. “It’s Italy so let’s just have that!” Wrong. There are all kinds of rules in Venice about ovens and temperatures they can get to, fuel sources and what not - as a result they have the worst pizza in Italy. But, If you look to Italy for what it really is, a bunch of city-states, each with their own cuisines, then it’s apparent that there are gems everywhere. Venice is a city of the sea, famous for its cuttlefish, inky rice dishes, cicchetti (Chi Ket EE) and bigoli in salsa.

Bigoli in Salsa is a brown sauced pasta of caramelized onions and anchovy paired with the fattest spaghetti ever, bigoli. I’ve enjoyed this dish on a hot July day in Venice, it seems only the locals order it, or more likely make it at home, and that’s exactly the type of dish I’m looking for in life.

My changes are as follows: Bigoli are swapped for bucatini, yes there’s a hole in the middle but the overall thickness is the same. Anchovies have been reduced and supplemented with jarred tuna, smoked paprika is added. It’s super tasty and comes together fast thanks in part to the hybrid cooking style of the onions - high temp pan frying, with later stage poaching in pasta water - you get the flavor and the softness of a true caramelized onion, in one third the time.

Let’s get to the cooking:

2 Servings

ingredients:

1/2 pound bucatini

1 pound yellow onion, medium to small dice

1-2 anchovy filets

1/2 jar tuna in spring water

3 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

1/2 tablespoon smoked paprika

2-4 ladles of water

red pepper flakes.

equipment:

pot for boiling water

large pan for making the salsa - and mixing everything together

steps:

Fill the large pot with 3-4 quarts of water, cover and bring to a boil. Meanwhile,

Get a small to medium dice on the onion and add it to the pan over high heat with 2 tbsp of olive oil and the anchovies. Add a good pinch of kosher salt and some freshly cracked black pepper. Stir or toss occasionally - cook for five minutes.

Add the tuna, without the water/oil, (I prefer the tuna in spring water for this, of excellent quality - from a glass jar so you can see what you’re getting). Also add the smoked paprika. Stir well and use a wooden spoon to break up the tuna. Try to get a sear/burnt bits on the onion and the tuna, cook another 5 minutes.

At this point the water should be boiling or close to it. Salt it well, add the bucatini, give it one good stir to prevent sticking, set a timer for 1 minute under what the box says.

Meanwhile, you must do a dance with the “salsa”. Crispy and dark edges are good, but don’t burn them! Keep the heat on full blast using the addition of a ladle or two of pasta water to the onions as your means of controlling the cooking - if and when you see the onions have taken enough color and a little burn just around the edges. Adding the water will soften the onions, but also lower the pan temp and prevent burning that happens in oil alone.

Add the 1 minute undercooked pasta to the salsa, keep the heat on high, mix well for two full minutes. Add 1 more tablespoon of olive oil and a little more pasta water if needed. it should be salsa like, not dry, not soup - the pasta water is what gets you there. finish with red pepper flakes.

I hope you enjoy this, I think it’s fantastic, let me know what you think!

FC