Bigoli in salsa
Venice's thick wholewheat pasta in a sauce of slow-cooked onion and anchovy
ItalianBigoli in salsa is the dish of Venice's lean days, once eaten on Fridays, Christmas Eve and Ash Wednesday, and still served in the city's bacari and osterie today. Thick, rough wholewheat strands are tossed in a sauce of onions cooked slowly in olive oil until sweet and almost creamy, with salted anchovies melted through. It is salty, sweet and deeply savoury, with no cheese. If you can't find bigoli, thick wholewheat spaghetti or bucatini work well. Serve with a bitter leaf salad such as radicchio. Chef's tip: add the anchovies off the heat and let them dissolve in the warm oil; fried hard, they turn bitter.
- Total time
- 50 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Put 3 white onions, ½ cup extra virgin olive oil and ½ cup water in a wide pan over a low heat. Cover and let the onions stew gently, stirring now and then, until very soft, translucent and pale gold, about 30 minutes. Don't let them brown: the most common mistake is frying the onions too hot, which makes the sauce bitter rather than sweet.
30 minStep 2: Take the pan off the heat and add 2 ⅞ oz salted anchovy fillets in oil. Stir and mash with a wooden spoon until they melt completely into the onions. Season with ½ tsp black pepper.
3 minStep 3: Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to the boil with 1 tbsp salt. Use less salt than usual, as the anchovies are salty.
Step 4: Cook 14 oz bigoli or thick wholewheat spaghetti until al dente, usually 10–12 minutes. Scoop out a mug of the cooking water before draining.
12 minStep 5: Add the drained bigoli to the sauce with a splash of cooking water and toss over a low heat for 1 minute until every strand is coated and glossy.
1 minStep 6: Serve at once, scattered with 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley if you like.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 590 kcal
- Protein
- 19 g
- Carbs
- 79 g
- Fat
- 24 g
- Fibre
- 11 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does bigoli in salsa take?
- About 50 minutes in total: 10 minutes to prepare and 40 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- What can I use instead of bigoli or thick wholewheat spaghetti?
- Linguine or any long pasta, same amount.
- What can I use instead of white onions?
- 2 shallots per onion.
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