TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Bigoli in SalsaBigoli with Onion and Anchovy Sauce
Thick Venetian bigoli pasta with an onion and anchovy sauce. A rustic dish once eaten during religious fasting, traditionally served on Fridays.
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Ingredients (4 servings)
- Bigoli (thick wholemeal pasta)320 g
- Salt-cured anchoviesRinse off the salt and remove the bones8 fillets
- White onionThinly sliced3
- Olive oil80 ml
Method
Prepare the onions and anchovies
- 1 Thinly slice the white onion.
- 2 Rinse the salt-cured anchovies to remove the salt, then remove the bones.
Slowly soften the onions
- 1 Slowly cook the white onion in olive oil over low heat.
- 2 Allow 20–25 minutes for it to become meltingly soft without browning.
- 3 (After the onions have cooked for 10 minutes.) Start bringing a large pot of water to the boil, using 10 g salt per 1 L water.
Dissolve the anchovies into the sauce
- 1 When the onions are meltingly soft, add the anchovies and stir with a wooden spoon, breaking them down.
Ready when
Continue when the anchovies have completely dissolved and the sauce is smooth.
Cook the bigoli and toss with the sauce
- 1 Cook the bigoli until still firm in the salted water brought to the boil earlier.
- 2 Toss with the sauce.
- 3 Adjust the consistency with pasta cooking water.
About this dish
In osterias, the informal taverns lining Venice’s canals, bigoli in salsa is served warm on winter nights. Bigoli is a thick, rough pasta particular to Veneto, made from wholemeal flour or with buckwheat. Its thickness catches the salsa, the onion and anchovy sauce, securely.
This simple dish dates back to the Republic of Venice, from the 7th century to 1797. Anchovies were plentiful in the Adriatic and could be preserved in salt; onions were an everyday peasant ingredient. The dish became widely established as cucina di magro, meatless cooking suitable for religious fast days such as Fridays and Lent.
The onions cook slowly over low heat in olive oil for a long time, staying pale, before anchovies are added and dissolved. As they cook, the anchovies lose their shape and become part of the dish’s savory depth.
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