A recipe from Casa Papagallo, a vlog which I turn to when I have no clue what to cook. Prior to a quick shopping trip this afternoon I watched a video where Luca made this dish, but with spaghetti. I used linguine, as Izzie was having ragu and I didn’t fancy 27 pots on the stove.

Dinner tonight was a delight; we are having some really bad weather lately, parts of Tuscany are flooded, the rain just doesn’t stop. All the schools were closed in Lucca today, it’s still raining heavily. At home however it smells of garlic and olives. It’s warm, it’s quiet, it’s dry. We’re so lucky to have this place.

I started cooking from gently frying some breadcrumbs on olive oil, till browned and crispy, a pangrattato, which was to add texture to the finished dish. While linguine were cooking, I chucked some minced garlic and several fillets of anchovies onto the olive oil. For science and research- the cats love anchovies! Some capers. A good handful of both green and black olives. From myself I added some quartered cherry tomatoes. A splash of water from the pasta made the sauce more runny and exciting. I removed the pasta from the water about 2 minutes before the end, to finish cooking in the sauce, which required no salt at all, virtually no seasoning with all the anchovies. That crispy pangrattato is a revelation, not just because of the taste, but the texture.

It’s been approved and enjoyed with some Sardinian vino. I’m hoping I get to see Sicilia this year. 🙂