Simplifying pasta
My efforts in replicating caci e pepe (here and here) has led to some experiments in a more simple and direct approach to pasta. When I was a kid, there was no such thing as “pasta.” We had spaghetti with tomato sauce and either meatballs or meat sauce. For variety and special occasions, there was lasagna. Oh – and there was mac and cheese. A few years later and supermarkets started carrying fettuccine, ziti, and spaghettini, then tagliatelle, gnocchi, and penne but most of the time it was still covered in a tomato sauce (unless we’re talking about wide egg noodles in stroganoff or butter sauces).
Eventually, sauces become more complex. Your basic marinara/bolognese sauce is joined by puttanesca, carbonara, alfredo, pesto, vodka, and marsala sauces. Pasta metamorphoses into dozens more shapes and textures and becomes a canvas for creative, innovative sauces, and frankly, it’s a lot of fun to put together a killer multi-ingredient sauce with a new protein every night on top of a well-cooked pasta.
On the other hand, it’s easy to become a little too baroque and lose touch with how good a simple, well-done pasta dish can be. This was driven home in a big way on our recent vacation in Rome when my true love and I had three or four delicious meals that couldn’t have been simpler – perfectly cooked pasta (usually spaghetti) with no more than 2-3 ingredients.
My first experiment couldn’t have been simpler. Spaghetti with olive oil and anchovies. Period (well, a little salt and pepper). I was amazed and how delicious this was. The saltiness and umami of the anchovies just pops out of the spaghetti and the olive oil added a little fruity sweetness and depth.
Next up was a Sicilian style pasta. Never in a million years would I have thought of using breadcrumbs as an ingredient in a pasta sauce. Breadcrumbs! This is a little more complex to make but the finished plate couldn’t be cleaner. In a skillet, toast some breadcrumbs in olive oil until they brown (but don’t burn). In a different skillet (or a large pot), simmer some anchovies, pepper flakes, and garlic in olive oil at a low temperature. Once the pasta is not-quite-done, drain it, dump it in the pot with the olive oil and anchovies, add the breadcrumbs, stir for a minute and serve.
A couple of notes on technique that more experienced cooks probably already know. The first has to do with the garlic. You don’t want to taste a piece of garlic in the pasta or to taste burned garlic in the oil, but you do want a strong flavor of garlic. Take three or four cloves of garlic and split them in half. Add them to the oil and let them simmer with the anchovies and pepper flakes for at least 15-20 minutes. Get this started while the water is working towards a boil. Right before adding the pasta, take the garlic cloves out of the skillet. The garlic will have infused into the oil.
The second tip has to do with the pasta. The second tip has to do with the pasta. These days instructions always call for cooking pasta to al dente without specifying what that means or why you want to do it. The best definition I’ve seen is that when you bite into it, it should stick to your teeth a little (hence the phrase al dente because dente = tooth in Italian). The thing is, it’s a little hard to spear 1-2 strands of spaghetti and taste it when (a) you’re dipping into a huge pot of boiling water and (b) the spaghetti continues to cook while you figure out whether the pasta is sufficiently sticky. Even with those drawbacks, it’s still the best way to do it. A decent alternative is to figure out how long you are supposed to cook the pasta according to your instructions, and then subtract 1-2 minutes. This depends on the instructions being right, of course, but sometimes you just gotta trust.
Here’s the why – you want the pasta to finish cooking in the sauce. In this case, by draining the hot pasta and then dumping it in the skillet with the warm oil, the pasta will continue cooking for another minute and while it does, it will be absorbing that garlic/anchovy infused olive oil. The result is that instead of a sauce running all over the outside of your spaghetti, the spaghetti includes the sauce in every bite. If you don’t get this step perfectly or don’t feel like taking this extra step, the sky won’t fall but try it just once and you’ll see why it is worth it.
Recipe – Spaghetti with anchovies and olive oil
Ingredients
12 oz fresh spaghetti (for two people)
3 tbl of olive oil
6 anchovies
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
Directions
Set a large pot 2/3 full of salted water on high heat to boil.
Add 3 tbl of olive oil to a skillet and set heat to medium/low. Add anchovies and pepper flakes and stir vigorously until the anchovies dissolve in the oil. Reduce heat to low.
When the water is boiling, add the spaghetti. Cook until al dente (see above).
Just before draining, reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Drain the pot in a colander and then add the drained spaghetti and pasta water to the skillet. Stir vigorously until the pasta is completely mixed with the oil (should take about a minute).
If desired, garnish with freshly chopped parsley and serve immediately.
Recipe – Spaghetti Sicilian style
Ingredients
12 oz fresh spaghetti (for two people)
5 tbl of olive oil
1 1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs
4 garlic cloves, peeled and halved lengthwise
6 anchovies
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
Directions
Set a large pot 2/3 full of salted water on high heat to boil.
Add 2 tbl of olive oil to a skillet set on medium. When the oil is hot, add the breadcrumbs and stir constantly until the breadcrumbs start to turn brown. Keep stirring until most of the breadcrumbs are a golden brown but none are burned. Take off the heat and set aside (you may need to reuse the skillet).
Add 3 tbl of olive oil to a skillet or large saucepan and set heat to medium/low. Add garlic, anchovies, and pepper flakes and stir vigorously until the anchovies dissolve in the oil. Reduce heat to low.
When the water is boiling, add the spaghetti. Cook until al dente (see above). Make sure that the garlic/anchovy oil has been simmering for at least ten minutes before putting the spaghetti in the water.
Just before draining, reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water and remove the garlic from the oil. Drain the pot in a colander and then add the drained spaghetti and pasta water to the skillet. Add the breadcrumbs. Stir vigorously until the pasta is completely mixed with the oil (should take about a minute) and covered in breadcrumbs.
If desired, garnish with freshly chopped parsley and serve immediately.