Padella Fettuccine with ‘Nduja, Lemon and Mascarpone

Method

1. 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 five days.)

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and/or pepper if required. 

6. Serve on hot plates with a creamy halo of sauce around the pasta. Finish with grated Parmesan.

7. Note: The sauce sucks up the Parmesan quickly and can easily become dry. So, be sure to have that excess halo around the plated pasta: my visual reference for the sauce is a slow-moving lava field.

8. Also works with: fresh pici; dried fettuccine, spaghetti, bucatini, linguine, penne, fusilli, farfalle.