Bigoli in Salsa con Cipolla e Acciughe Veneziani

Veneto

Venice's quintessential pasta — thick, whole-wheat spaghetti-like pasta extruded through a bigolaro press, dressed with a sauce of sweet onions caramelised for 45 minutes until almost dissolved and then melted with anchovy fillets off heat. The onion-anchovy sauce is not cooked together but combined at the last moment — the anchovy melts in the residual heat of the onions to preserve its freshness. Traditionally a 'magro' (meatless) dish eaten on Ash Wednesday and Christmas Eve.

• Anchovy as a dissolving, seasoning sauce element — same off-heat anchovy dissolution technique to prevent bitterness → Pasta con acciughe e pinoli Ligurian
• Deeply caramelised onions with anchovy as the flavour pairing — the same sweet-savoury onion-fish combination in tart form → Pissaladière (onion-anchovy tart) French
• Anchovy dissolved in olive oil as a pasta sauce — the Roman version without the caramelised onion component → Spaghetti alle acciughe e molliche Roman

Sweet and savoury simultaneously; the caramelised onions have almost no sharpness left; anchovy adds deep umami; the whole-wheat bigoli gives bitterness and chew — a dish of complete, profound simplicity