The simplest pasta dishes are often times the best.
Nobody can deny the siren call of a big bowl of wobbly pasta and the damn thing is even more tempting when the sauce takes less time to cook than the pasta does. So this whole thing is pan to mouth in under 10 minutes. What dish is better than that?
Don’t answer with one you microwave because you’re a liar.
This does incorporate anchovies and like I have said 10 thousand times, they are not fishy – they are salty. And these here are melted down into a gorgeous paste to give a robust base to this pasta sauce. A heart, filling and simple pasta dish for when the thought of cooking dances on your last nerve.
Pour a hefty amount of boiled water into a pan and bring to a bubble again. Add sea salt and a cup or so of penne pasta and cook until al dente (with a slight bite) which should take between 9 and 10. That’s your pasta done. So now you can crack on with your “sauce”.
I use “air-bunnies” here because it’s not so much a sauce, but an oil based liquor that coats the pasta morsels. Let’s go with it. Open up a can of anchovies and finely chop. Throw into a deep frying pan with a little oil and heat them until they sizzle. Prod around with a wooden spoon until they start to break apart and almost ‘melt.
Finely chop up a small handful of sundried tomatoes. Not an actual handful, don’t use your hands because they’re oily as all hell, but you know what I mean. After these are chopped, throw in with the anchovies and stir. Now take a small shot glass or so of the pasta cooking water and throw into the frying pan. Crank the heat up a little and bring it to a gentle bubble.
Drain your pasta and almost immediately throw it into the pan of anchovies and tomatoes, tossing everything so that the pasta is coated. Grate in a way too generous amount of parmesan and keep the pasta moving to run all ingredients through it. Bowl up and serve with a leafy rip and chop of fresh parsley.
My only thing with this is – it doesn’t reheat as well as I’d like. I tried taking some into work the next day and there’s something about the tomatoes and anchovies that just don’t appreciate being reheated.
But that’s a blessing. Who doesn’t need an excuse to eat the whole damn thing in one? Me right here.
MIKEY AND THE KITCHEN. 