YOU SAY NDUJA …

Whilst rooting around Ben’s Farm Shop (formally Riverford) the other day I came across a jar of Nduja Jam hiding out at the bottom of the fridge. No it’s not a mutant turtle superhero but a delicious spreadable type of salami. Ever curious I popped it into my basket and then eyed it up eagerly over the next few days whilst deciding what to do with it.

I first came across nduja (pronounced en-doo-jah) whilst in Italy a few years ago when we were served it on some little croutons alongside our early evening aperitif. Made from the same cuts as salami, eg shoulder, pork belly etc it’s particularly notable for the addition of local chillis which makes it somewhat of a spicy offering.

Finding myself with plenty of time last weekend (a rarity) I thought I’d embark on a bit of leisurely bread making and decided to make some swirly rolls using nduja as the filling. If you fancy having a bash here’s the recipe:

NDUJA BREAD SWIRLS – INGREDIENTS

• 500g strong bread flour
• 7g easy blend dried yeast
• 1tsp salt
• 1tsp sugar
• 300ml water
• 2 tblsp olive oil
• 1/2 jar nduja jam

NDUJA BREAD SWIRLS – METHOD

• Put the flour in a large bowl and add the yeast, salt and sugar.
• Pour in about 280ml of the water and the olive oil and combine until you have a soft dough. I did this in my Kitchen Aid mixer but you can do it by hand. Add more water if you need to.
• Knead for about 10 minutes by hand or 5 minutes in the mixer (use this time to enjoy a nice cup of coffee).
• Place in an oiled bowl, cover with cling and leave somewhere nice and warm to rise until doubled in size – mine took about 2 hours.
• Knock back and tip out onto a lightly floured board, then roll or tease with your fingers into an oblong about 40cm x 30cm.
• Spread over the nduja (I also added some sun-dried tomatoes I found in the fridge) and then roll up from one of the long sides into a swiss roll shape.

• Cut the roll into 12 equalish pieces and place cut side up on a lined baking sheet. Cover with a piece of oiled cling film and leave to double in size somewhere warm again for about half an hour.

• Preheat your oven to 180C – 200C (mine’s quite hot so I went for 180C) brush the rolls with a little more olive oil (or the oil the sun-dried tomatoes came in) and bake for about 20 mins.
• I brushed mine with even more oil when they came out of the oven and tucked in with a plate of cheese and meats.

The rest of the jar made a delicious sauce for pasta with parsley and lemon zest. Someone also suggested it’s great mixed into scrambled egg or combined with sausage meat and made into scotch eggs … maybe next time …

If you decide to have a go yourself do let me know how you get on …