My first collab pasta just landed yeee.
If you’ve been here since my sausage ragù post, my day ones, you already know how this whole thing started. I was working at the restaurant when this girl walks in, pulls her laptop, and starts telling me about her substack and I’m like what’s a substack??
Next thing I know, she’s selling it to me “you need one for your pasta recipes” she goes. That girl? Catherine St-Laurent, my substack godmother.
So it only felt right to do my first collab on here with her. We wanted to make pasta but keep it chill—no machine, no stress, just something you can make at home with basically semolina and water.
We made Spizzulus.
Meaning “pinch” in Sardinian dialect. It’s a little hand-pinched loop of dough that looks kinda fancy but it’s stupid simple once you get the hang of it.
Fiddleheads are in season so we went full spring mode: bitter, buttery, lemony, salty anchovies and guanciale. Takes no time, but tastes like you put in work.
Recipe’s below. Video’s up on Mise en Place if you wanna see how we made it.
Don’t sleep, she’s a banger.
Em
FOR 2
250–300g spizzulus
1 cup fiddleheads, cleaned, blanched (1–2 min), ice bath
1–2 handfuls dandelion greens
50g guanciale, sliced
2 anchovy fillets (in oil)
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
A pinch of chili flakes
Lemon (juice + zest)
Extra virgin olive oil
2 cubes unsalted butter
Dry white wine (optional, for deglazing)
Pecorino Romano
Salt
Black pepper
HOW
Crisp up the guanciale in a pan over medium until golden and slightly chewy, not dry. Take it out and set aside.
In the same pan add olive oil, anchovies and chili flakes. Let it all melt down and vibe, add the garlic—don’t let the garlic brown.
Meanwhile, boil a big pot of salted water and drop in your pasta. Cook until al dente (around 3-5min, but taste it to be sure)
Toss in the fiddleheads. Sauté for a quick minute just to coat and warm.
Optional: deglaze with a splash of white wine. Let it cook off.
Drop the heat to low. Add the guanciale back in.
Squeeze in lemon juice. Add the dandelion greens. Let them just barely wilt.
Taste and adjust salt but keep it light (guanciale and anchovy already slap).
Add your cooked spizzulus, a splash of pasta water and the butter and swirl into a glossy sauce.
Plate it up. Finish with grated pecorino, lemon zest, black pepper.
WORD
Fresh pasta loves lots of water—don’t skimp on the pot size.
Fiddlehead prep: trim off any brown or dry bits and rinse well couple of times. Blanch in boiling water 2–3min, then dump straight into an ice bath to stop the cooking and keep ’em bright green.
No fiddleheads? Use asparagus, fava beans, or peas.
No dandelion greens? Go for chicory, puntarelle, wild arugula—any bitter green.
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