Anchovies are delicious and versatile. If you're not convinced, this recipe will change your mind.
This recipe comes from Allison Roman, my favorite food writer at the New York Times. She’s a true icon, a hero for our generation, churning out the most delicious things from her tiny Brooklyn kitchen. I came across her recipe videos on YouTube last September and have been cooking my way through her collection ever since. But this…this recipe is my go-to when I need to impress. Follow this link to view the original recipe!
Allison Roman’s Shallot Pasta
Ingredients:
- 6 shallots, peeled
- 3 large cloves garlic
- 1 tube tomato paste
- 1 can anchovies (Ortiz or another quality brand)
- Chili flakes
- 4-5 glugs of good olive oil
- Pasta (linguine, spaghetti or bucatini work well)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Small handful of chopped parsley
How to make it:
1. Prepare your mise-en-place. (that’s French for get your stuff together and have it all ready for cooking) Peel and slice thinly your shallots, and crush & mince your three garlic cloves. Heat a pot of water and season with salt once it’s boiling. Pop open your tin of anchovies and drain off excess packing oil. Fnely chop your parsley, and combine in a small bowl with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 1/2 of your minced garlic. Mix until evenly combined.
2. In a cold saucepan, pour 4-5 glugs of decent to good olive oil. Make sure it coats the bottom of the pan. Add your shallots and turn heat to medium high. Salt shallots lightly to draw moisture and coat evenly with oil with a wooden spoon. (doesn’t have to be a wooden spoon, I just really like using one…makes me feel like a wise old Italian grandma.)
3. After your shallots have started to sweat, lower the heat to medium low. Add in chili flakes to your preference. I usually add a fair amount – about two teaspoons or so. Enjoy the smells!
4. When the shallots have turned golden, drop in your anchovy fillets. Again, discard the olive oil from the anchovy tin – just use the fillets. Incorporate into the shallots and oil with your wooden spoon. The anchovy fillets will melt into the shallot mixture after a minute or two.
5. Once the anchovies have incorporated, add the remaining 1/2 of your minced garlic. Stir and let sit for 30 seconds, or until garlic is fragrant.
6. When you can smell the garlic, add your tomato paste. Use the whole tube/can and stir until the shallots and garlic are totally coated and the sauce has taken on a deep red color.
7. Let the sauce continue to cook at medium low – remove from heat if need be. If cooking for fewer than four people, set aside half of your shallot mixture and store in the refrigerator. (It keeps well and can be used in millions of other ways.)
8. Cook your pasta, remove just before al dente, as it will continue cooking in the sauce.
9. When your pasta is finished, remove from the water using tongs/pasta spider and drop into your shallot sauce. Reserve pasta water and add 1 cup to pasta/sauce mixture.
10. Coat your pasta in the sauce and stir around to mix in the water. The starch in the water will bind the shallot sauce to the noodles and reduce the thickness of the sauce. You’re looking for a slight glossiness, but no extra liquid in the pan.
11. Top with a drizzle of olive oil and your garlic, parsley and lemon juice mixture! Add chili flakes if ya like it hot.
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| I mean...am I wrong?? |
If someone told me I’d be cooking with anchovies a year ago, I’d have probably laughed them out of the room. A lifelong aversion to fishiness left me with a seemingly permanent fear of the plucky, punchy little fillets-in-a-can. I’m not sure if there’s some buried childhood trauma involving fish, but I’ve been picky about the stuff for as long as I can remember. The avoidance of “fishy” tasting food meant a lack of experience in cooking with fish and seafood in general. I don’t eat fish very often, usually only when my parents make it, or when I’m visiting Portugal.
I’m glad that’s changed.
I now know why Allison keeps these as a pantry staple. They are so incredibly flavorful, and so versatile, and they take sauces to the next level. It’s their meltiness. These little suckers just completely give themselves to whatever you might be cooking, and the result is a complex, salty, umami flavour that utterly blows the tastebuds away. No pockets of fishiness, no little pieces of anchovy fillet to block any of the other flavors – just a deep, sumptuous undertone of rich, salty warmth.
Enjoy!
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