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spaghettata

Spaghetti with Anchovies and Toasted Breadcrumbs

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On a Zoom happy hour recently, I asked what everyone was having for dinner. Four for four, pasta.

No surprise there. Everyone loves spaghetti and other dried pastas, and naturally they’re among the staples we’re stockpiling these days.

Other ingredients I never like to be without: olive oil, bread, anchovies, garlic and hot red pepper.  Conveniently, these are the makings for a classic spaghettata–an anytime pasta feast made in minutes.

I use one or two anchovies for background umami in all kinds of dishes. But for this bring-it-on dish, I toss the hot spaghetti with six glossy fillets for the two of us. Garlic slivers, simmered gently in olive oil until they just begin to color, and hot red pepper flakes add kick, while handfuls of arugula sound a gently bitter note.

If you have a choice between a tin of anchovies that costs $2 and a jar of meaty Sicilian anchovies that costs considerably more, go for the second option. And an artisanal kind of spaghetti will likely have better texture.

You could mix in a little grated Parmigiano Reggiano and it wouldn’t be wrong. But I prefer to sprinkle each serving with toasted breadcrumbs, a southern Italian touch. Not the kind that comes in a carton, like panko, but freshly made, toasted breadcrumbs. I learned to make them from a great Sicilian cook, Fiorangela Piccione.

In a skillet with just a smear of olive oil, the fresh crumbs are cooked over medium-high heat while you stir them almost continuously. They color unevenly, but eventually all reach a delectable stage of tender crispness. Off heat, you must continue to tend them, stirring as they cool. Now you have breadcrumbs to please an empress. Enough for your spaghetti and for a pasta dish or salad of the future.

I had wonderful rye bread on hand, so I used that. Fiora would have chosen white or semolina bread, and she would have taken time to trim the crusts. But I don’t think she would disapprove of my unorthodox but delicious crumbs.

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Spaghetti with Anchovies and Toasted Breadcrumbs
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
12 mins
 

This is one of my favorite spur-of-the-moment pasta dishes, made with ingredients I almost always have on hand.

Course: Main Dish
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
  • Sea salt
  • 8 ounces spaghetti or linguine
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 6 large anchovy fillets
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • Hot red pepper flakes
  • 2 cups baby arugula or baby kale if large, cut in ribbons
  • ½ cup freshly made, toasted breadcrumbs (recipe follows)
  • Several grape tomatoes optional
Instructions
  1. Fill a large saucepan two-thirds full of cold water. Bring to a boil. Pour in a small handful of salt. Add spaghetti, pressing with a wooden spoon to submerge it. Stir several times as the water returns to a boil. Cook until al dente, about 10 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, cut garlic cloves in thin slivers. Reserving 2 anchovy fillets, cut the remaining 4 in three pieces.
  3. Pour olive oil in a small skillet. Over low heat, gently cook garlic until it begins to color but does not brown.
  4. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup of cooking water. Return pasta to saucepan. Over low heat, stir in anchovies and garlic with oil. Season to taste with sea salt (you may not need any) and hot red pepper. Stir in arugula and heat just until slightly wilted, adding pasta water if needed for a saucy consistency.

  5. Garnish each serving with breadcrumbs, a whole anchovy and, if using, grape tomatoes.

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Toasted Fresh Breadcrumbs
Prep Time
2 mins
Cook Time
10 mins
 
I thought I knew how to toast breadcrumbs until I watched Fiorangela Piccione transform fresh breadcrumbs into crusty golden morsels. First of all, the Siracusa cook used pan carré, an ordinary white bread, instead of the semolina bread I was expecting. The only oil was a smear in the bottom of the pan and the heat seemed much too high. But, sure enough, Fiora knew what she was doing. She didn’t want breadcrumbs that were “molle molle” (too soft) and, because they were for a pasta sauce containing oil, she wished to avoid any hint of oiliness in the crumbs. This recipe was originally printed in my cookbook, Seafood alla Siciliana; it is terrific for all kinds of seafood pasta dishes.
Ingredients
  • 2 or 3 slices firm white, semolina, rye or other whole-grain bread
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons olive oil see Note
Instructions
  1. Tear or slice the bread into several pieces, placing them in a food processor bowl. Process until reduced to coarse crumbs (makes about 2 cups).
  2. Smear the bottom of a medium-sized skillet with olive oil. Place the breadcrumbs in the pan and turn the heat to medium high. Heat the crumbs, stirring constantly (don’t even think about walking away!). Over the course of about 5 minutes, the crumbs will begin to change color. Continue stirring until they are golden brown and crisp (some of the crumbs will be browner than others, and that’s okay). If the crumbs start to burn, reduce the heat or temporarily remove the skillet from the heat.
  3. Remove the skillet from the heat and continue stirring for about half a minute, as the crumbs cool.
Recipe Notes

Note: Any toasted breadcrumbs not used immediately can be cooled and held at room temperature for a couple of days, or frozen indefinitely.

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

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spaghettata platterFor years a small oval platter celebrating “La Spaghettata” has languished in one of our kitchen cupboards. Acquired at a church attic sale for a couple of dollars, it has an unknown provenance. Pulling it out occasionally to serve crostini, I’ve always wondered how good the platter’s recipe for spaghetti alla puttanesca might be.

You’ve probably heard the story of spaghetti alla puttanesca (“whore-style pasta”). It’s based on ingredients easy to keep on hand–pasta, cured anchovies, olives, capers, garlic, canned tomatoes–that prostitutes could supposedly assemble to make a quick and tasty dish between customers. I’ve always thought the forthrightly strong flavors allude to the coarse nature of the cook’s clients, and perhaps that’s the true meaning of an story that is suspiciously hard to authenticate.

In any case, spaghetti alla puttanesca dates back only to the middle of the 20th century, more or less, at a time when, as the Accademia Italiana della Cucina points out rather disapprovingly, a taste for gusti violenti (“violent flavors”) came into vogue. It is linked to Sicilian and other Southern Italian cuisines, which have always had the good sense to include anchovy pasta sauces, though typically seasoned in a more discreet way.

I’m a big fan of the spaghettata–a impromptu pasta pig-out using available ingredients, served at whatever time of day or night anyone gets hungry–and have relied on all of these ingredients in different combinations. But I had never set out to make a proper spaghetti alla puttanesca. This was the moment.

The Accademia is as good a source as any for the “official” recipe and, as it turns out, the version on my platter is quite similar. Both call for butter as well as olive oil, something missing from my previous puttanesca-like improvisations. The butter turned out to be a brilliant touch, taming the harshness of the anchovy and garlic while adding a luscious richness. It is also important to choose good-quality anchovies and salt-cured capers such as those from Agostino Recca. Hot red pepper doesn’t appear in either of my source recipes but is perfectly at home in this dish.

My little platter accommodates one abundant serving of spaghetti alla puttanesca, but it’s far more fun to cook up a spaghettata for four.

Print
Spaghetti alla Puttanesca
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Total Time
50 mins
 
Course: Appetizer, Main Dish
Cuisine: Italian, Southern Italian
Servings: 4 generous servings
Ingredients
  • 1 pound spaghetti
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 6 anchovy fillets
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 canned plum tomatoes chopped, with some of the puree (about 1 cup)
  • 2/3 cup black or green olives pitted and slivered
  • 2 teaspoons capers rinsed and roughly chopped
  • Kosher salt or sea salt
  • Hot red pepper flakes optional
  • 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
Instructions
  1. Fill a large saucepan about two-thirds full with cold water and set over high heat to boil for the spaghetti.
  2. Chop the garlic until fairly fine. Add the anchovies, chopping both until almost a paste. Melt the butter with the oil over medium heat in a skillet or saucepan large enough to hold the cooked pasta. Add the garlic-anchovy mixture, cooking just until fragrant. Stir in the plum tomatoes, olives and capers. Season to taste with salt (if needed) and hot red pepper flakes (if using).  Simmer the sauce while the pasta cooks.
  3. Add a small handful of salt and the spaghetti to the water, pressing with a wooden spoon until fully immersed; stir well. Cook until al dente, 8 to 12 minutes. Drain the spaghetti, reserving about 1 cup of the cooking water, and turn into the skillet with the sauce. Mix well, adding cooking water as needed for a saucy consistency. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve immediately.

spaghetti alla puttanesca