TYPICAL VENETO DISH: BIGOLI
INSTRUCTIONS:
Bigoli in sauce is a typical Veneto first course that, according to tradition, is eaten during lean days, such as Christmas Eve, Good Friday, and Ash Wednesday. The traditional bigoli is made by hand using the press, called “bigolaro”. Tradition has it that this bigolaro was imported by Marco Polo from China where soy noodles were prepared. The term bigolo probably derives from the dialectal word “bigat” which indicates the caterpillar, due to the characteristic of the bigolo coming out of the bigolaro press.
Bigoli in sauce is made with a simple but very tasty dressing, made up of finely sliced onions and anchovies (or sardines) slowly dissolved in olive oil. Bigoli, also typical of the Veneto region, is a form of pasta that resembles large spaghetti with a rough, porous surface; In addition to being prepared with soft wheat flour, there are also versions with wholemeal flour, with or without eggs.
Ingredients:
1 package of Bogili pasta that we will buy in Venice and it is thicker than spaghetti. They are noodles from Veneto, which are made in a Torchio (a little machine similar to churreras)
4 tablespoons of Olive Oil (and an extra teaspoon)
1 pinch of salt
400 grams of onion
100 grams of salted anchovies
Amount to the taste of Salt and Pepper
4 tablespoons of chopped parsley
To prepare the bigoli in sauce, start by skimming the onions: then cut them in half and slice very thin. Pour the oil into a large skillet, add the onions and let them dry over low heat without browning, possibly adding a little hot water if they dry out excessively. Meanwhile, desalt the anchovies (or sardines) after washing them under running water, then fillet them well, removing not only the central bone but also the lateral bones and cutting them into small pieces. Cook the onions until they turn transparent. At this point, add the anchovies and let them melt slowly and completely, adding to the case of the pasta cooking water, then add pepper to the sauce you are cooking to taste. Mixing the ingredients of the sauce if necessary, you will obtain a homogeneous consistency. Before draining your bigoli, reserve a couple of tablespoons of cooking water that you can, if necessary, add to the sauce to dilute it. Drain the bigoli al dente and place them in the non-stick pan with the previously prepared sauce and season with the spicy sauce of anchovies and onions, stirring so that your bigoli absorbs the sauce well. Then serve immediately hot.
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