This recipe comes from another Mary Taylor Simeti book, SICILIAN FOOD: Recipes from Italy’s Abundant Isle. I’m fascinated by Sicily right now and have gotten more into making food that hales from there. Torta Paradiso from her book, Bitter Almonds, was just the beginning.  (For the chocolate truffle challenge, see the end of this post.)

This pasta recipe caught my attention because it uses copious amounts of anchovies in a single dish. I was skeptical about it since they can be so powerful, but I wanted to give it a try anyway, since we love anchovies: even when they’re too fishy.

spaghetti con acciuche e mollica AKA spaghetti with anchovies and breadcrumbs

The recipe also calls for ‘strattu (tomato extract), which in Sicily they make directly under their scalding summer sun with nothing but ultra ripe tomatoes, salt and basil. The tomatoes are chopped small, passed through a food mill to remove skin and seeds then the salt and basil are added. The mixture is spread on a wooden surface under the sun. You’re supposed to keep stirring it with a wood spatula until the water has evaporated and the mass becomes a thick paste. Mary writes that it might take a couple of days to get the desired consistency depending on how much sun you have in your area. That is a lot of work! Wow! I keep thinking how fun it would be to make my own ‘strattu. I wonder if my porch would work… Maybe in late Summer? For now, I’m using canned tomato paste and saving that adventure for another time.

This turned out wonderfully. Despite my initial apprehensions, the anchovies lent a mellow, earthy, briny, delicate layer of flavor to the dish. It was not overwhelming at all. Love it!

spaghetti con acciuche e mollica AKA spaghetti with anchovies and breadcrumbs

1lb spaghetti
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
4 tbsp tomato paste
6 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled, partially crushed
crushed red pepper
black pepper
10 anchovy fillets, drained (1 small can)
2 tbsp Italian fresh parsley, chopped fine
1 cup plain water
1 to ½ cups water from cooked pasta

Bring a large pot of water to boil.

Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a skillet on high. Add breadcrumbs and toast until golden. Transfer to a bowl and set a side.

Wipe pan with a paper towel. Add remaining olive oil and garlic to the pan and cook until aromatic. Add tomato paste, salt and peppers then cook for a couple of minutes, stirring to prevent burning. Add one cup of water. Stir to completely dissolve paste then simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring every now and then.

Add anchovies plus 1 tbsp of olive oil to a glass measuring cup (Pyrex) and half submerge the cup in the pot of boiling water (where past will be cooked). Cook anchovies in bain marie stirring until they become a thick sauce. Add anchovies to tomato sauce. Stir to combine. Set aside but keep warm.

Add pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente about 1 to 2 minutes before doneness indicated on the package. Drain reserving about 2 cups from cooking liquid.

To assemble the dish, reheat sauce. Add pasta, ½ of the toasted breadcrumbs, cooking water then toss together. Transfer to a serving platter. Garnish with parsley and more breadcrumbs. Use remaining breadcrumbs at table for each diner to add to his or her own dish as they choose.

Chocolate truffle food blogging challenge:  The glamorous Heavenly from donuts to delirium and we at weirdcombos want to invite any interested food blogging folk to join us in a chocolate truffle cooking challenge.  All you have to do is contact us for the basic recipe, come up with a creative version of your own, and publish it with links to all the other participants for the challenge on Monday May 30, 2011.  This was incredibly fun when we did the tagliatelle challenge in March. So get your thinking caps on and your sweet… teeth(?) ready for some delicious fun in May!