Meredith and I have eaten this a thousand times, usually on a Sunday evening–our once-a-week pasta night.
It is from the matchless Marcella Hazan and is probably my favourite pasta dish of all time–comfort food par excellence!
What makes it so delicious is the anchovies–controversial little fish–not to everyone’s taste.
Here they deepen the taste without dominating.
The ones preserved in salt are best–they dissolve more readily than those in preserved in oil–but it’s a business preparing them for cooking.
Since I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes we have eaten wholewheat pasta and now we prefer it–it’s on the shelves of most supermarkets these days.
How al dente it’s cooked is a matter of taste.
In Italy you’d think it was an arrestable offence to overcook pasta–they cook it very al dente and it makes for agreeably slower eating.
for 4
2 medium cloves garlic–chopped
6 tablespoons olive oil
4 anchovy fillets–chopped fine and pounded into a paste in a mortar with a pestle if you have one
2 good tablespoons parsley–chopped
400 gm tin of tomatoes–chopped with their juice
salt & pepper
400 gms wholewheat spaghettini
- Lightly sauté the garlic in small saucepan until it colours.
- Take the pan off the heat and add the anchovies and parsley– stirring well to dissolve them into the oil
- Add the tomatoes, the salt and pepper.
- Cook at a steady simmer for about twenty five minutes, stirring regularly.
- When ready the sauce will have an unctious consistency and a little pool of oil on top.
Cook the spaghettini in plenty of well salted boiling water.- Test for your preferred “doneness”.
- Drain, put in a heated bowl and add the sauce.
- Mix well and serve.
Robin Ellis 