Fresh, zingy, tasty, quick and really easy - and it's not fishy!
Many people avoid anchovies as they think there will be a very fishy taste; anchovies in pasta are salty and creamy - not fishy at all!
This dish is simple, and making it - including prep - takes as long as the pasta takes to cook.
The lemon and chilli give it a real zing (as the kids were saying in 1965), and it is quite simply delightful.
Spaghetti is the best pasta to use with this, and I've gone for No.5 - which is a thicker gauge.
INGREDIENTS
garlic
anchovies - a small, flat tin
a lemon
a little chilli
parsley
spaghetti
Watch the video
METHOD
Boil some salted water in a pan
Peel the garlic, and slice it paper thin - we want it to almost melt in the pan
De-seed the chilli and slice it finely
By now the water will most likely be boiling (depending on the heat of the water you used)
Add the spaghetti. You're cooking it for 2 minutes less than the packet says
Turn the heat down - you don't cook pasta at 100ºC
Zest the lemon, if you don't have a zester, use a grater. Finely chop the zest peel
Finely chop up the parsley
Heat olive oil in a large frying pan
Add the garlic and let it soften
Add the anchovies and mash them down with a spoon: we want them to break up and melt into the mix
Add the chilli and lemon zest
Add the juice of the lemon
Stir it all through
When the pasta is 2 minutes from done, lift it from the pan (no need to drain it) and add it to the anchovy mix
Add a couple of ladles of pasta water and stir it about
Add the parsley
Serve with breadcrumbs or parmesan*
* I know you NEVER serve parmesan with fish pasta, but you do - with pasta tonno, and it's fine with this dish too.