Bigoli in Salsa – First Courses Recipes

Bigoli in Salsa by Beatrice Polato

One of our most traditional first courses recipes: Bigoli In Salsa.

This is one of the easiest recipes we like to teach during our one day cooking lessons in Venice.

Bigoli are the typical Venetian pasta and can only be found in Venice (where they are still produced). The Bigoli are a long pasta, like very long big spaghetti.  

Bigoli in Salsa by Beatrice Polato

In the original recipe they are prepared with wheat flour, water and salt. The main characteristic of this pasta is its roughness, which allows it to hold sauces and condiments.

This peculiarity is given by the type of preparation: it is called preparation “a trafila” (coater), using traditional copper presses originally operated by hand. There are some variations of this pasta, which is obtained by varying the type of flour.

By using the Saracen flour you obtain dark bigoli  or by adding the squid ink you get black pasta.

Bigoli in Salsa by Beatrice Polato

INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PEOPLE:

1 spoonful of extra virgin olive oil
1 thinly diced white onion
2 spoons of dry white wine
6 salted sardines (rinsed) (or 8 anchovies in oil)
320 gr bigoli (Venetian long spaghetti) or spaghetti

PREPARATION:

1. Finely dice the onion.
2. Place a spoon of olive oil in a saucepan over a low heat and place the onion in it. Fry very very gently and keep adding a spoon or two of wine to avoid the browning of the onion.
3. Rinse the sardines under cold running water, take the bones and innards off and cut the sardines in very small pieces.
   

   Anchovies in Oil by Beatrice Polato

4. As soon as the onion is nice and soft but still whit, add the sardines and keep cooking for a little longer until it become a very thick paste.
   

   cooking the onions and sardines

5. In the meantime bring a pan full of salted water to the boil. As soon as the water boils, drop the bigoli or spaghetti in it.
6. Cook al dente and drain.
7. Place the bigoli back on the pan where you cooked them and mix them with the prepared sardine sauce and gently cook for 1 minute longer.
   

   Bigoli in Salsa by Beatrice Polato