If you like eating and cooking foods from across the globe, you'll probably agree that sometimes the one ingredient that makes a certain dish sing is one you can't easily pronounce if you don't speak that country's language.

For me, that includes anything that gets a savory heat with 'nduja (pronounced en-DOO-ya), a soft and spicy sausage made with small but mighty sun-dried chilies from the Calabria region of Southern Italy.

The fatty ground pork that makes the spreadable salume such a tasty topping for pizza and pasta melts when it is heated up in a pan, blooming the Calabrian chile in the sausage's own fat. The result not only imbues the dish with a flaming red hue — that bleeds onto your fingers, if you're not careful — but adds a spicy, umami-rich flavor that is quite addictive.

In this recipe adapted from Serious Eats, the sausage gives a spicy kick to mussels steamed in dry white wine (I used sauvignon blanc, which also is good for pairing with the finished dish) along with sauteed shallot and garlic. A good squeeze of lemon along with its zest adds to its bright finish.

To serve, you definitely need a crusty, quality bread — such as sourdough or a baguette, hopefully toasted — to soak up the broth.

Mussels are best prepared and eaten the day you buy them. When cooking them, be sure to discard any that are cracked or don't close when tapped with another mussel. To remove grit, scrub shells well under cold running water. To remove beards (that look like wisps of hair trapped between the shells) grab and pull toward the hinge-end of the mussel.

You can find 'nduja at most Italian markets. While unopened logs can last several months in the fridge or pantry, once opened it should be refrigerated to prevent it from drying out and absorbing other flavors.

Steamed mussels and 'nduja

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 large shallots, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Kosher salt

2 ounces 'nduja (about 1/4 cup)

1 cup dry white wine

1 pound mussels, scrubbed and debearded

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

Juice and zest from 1 lemon

Toasted bread, for serving

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat until shimmering.

Add shallots and garlic, season lightly with salt, and cook, stirring frequently, until softened but not brown, 5-7 minutes.

Add 'nduja and, using a wooden spoon, break it into pieces and stir vigorously to combine with shallots and garlic.

Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until fat from 'nduja separates and shallots and garlic are stained red and fully coated with 'nduja, 3-5 minutes longer. Add wine, increase heat to high and bring to a boil.

Add mussels, stir, cover pan with a lid and cook, shaking pan constantly and peeking every 30 seconds to stir.

Cook just until all the mussels are open, 2-4 minutes. Remove from heat, and using tongs, quickly transfer to a warmed heatproof serving bowl. Discard any mussels that did not open.

Cover mussels with saucepan lid to keep warm.

Add chopped parsley, lemon juice and zest to saucepan and stir to combine.

Taste broth and adjust seasoning with salt, if needed.

To serve: Remove lid from the serving bowl, and pour contents of saucepan over mussels.

Serve immediately, passing toasted bread at the table along with a large empty bowl for collecting empty mussel shells.

Serves 2.

— adapted from seriouseats.com

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