This spaghetti with anchovies, garlic, lemon and chilli is a simple and delicious recipe full of bright, vibrant flavours.
After weeks of excess and indulgence in December, I find myself craving simplicity in January. Even though, surprisingly, us as a family behaved ourselves on the food front and didn’t allow ourselves to get carried away, I still have the need to eat the simplest of foods. Toast with a smear of Bovril is great for breakfast and a simple Caprese salad is all I need for lunch but for Dinner, I’d like something a long those same lines, but with a little more punch and flavour.
That’s where this ridiculously simple but absolutely delicious pasta comes in. I love that the sauce (if you can call it a sauce) literally takes minutes to put together and that it coats the pasta effortlessly, allowing the pasta to soak up all the salty, spiciness. The anchovies add such a delicious meatiness without being overly fishy.
I suggest you serve this with some crusty bread or perhaps some herbed bread crumbs. Using fresh breadcrumbs, fry them in a little bit of olive oil with a garlic clove and finely chopped herbs until they turn golden brown. The crunch will be great with the al dente pasta. And even though we are simplifying our diets, an ice cold glass of Chenin will round this off perfectly!
Spaghetti with Anchovies, garlic, lemon & chilli
Ingredients
- 500 g spaghetti
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves finely sliced
- 6 anchovy fillets
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley finely chopped
- 1-2 chillies finely chopped
- juice of 1 lemon
- salt & pepper to taste
- fresh pecorino to serve
Instructions
- In a large pot of salted, boiling water, cook the pasta until al dente.
- In the meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the garlic and anchovies for a minute before adding the parsley, chillies and lemon juice. Turn off the heat.
- Reserve 2 cups of the pastas cooking water and toss the drained pasta with the anchovy sauce. Add some of the reserved cooking water and stir to coat the pasta. If the pasta seems dry, add more of the cooking liquid.
- Season to taste and serve with freshly grated pecorino.
just wanted to say thank you for such a fab recipe, had it last night, I may have added a little bit more anchovies and garlic
Oh wow, great recipe and superb pictures! May I ask what camera and lens do you use? Thank you!
This pasta is gorgeous. Glad I stumbled upon your blog! I’ll be subscribing! Feel free to drop by sometime. I’m always wanting to make new foodie friends! Megs x
Absolutely what I’m looking, and like you said, something light and powerful after an entire month of holiday noshing. The lemon, chilli and anchovies are brilliant!
Gorgeous photos Alida! It looks so good I want to lick my screen! ;-P
Kitchenboy, thanks W! I’m glad you like my photos. 🙂
Beti, I promise, the anchovies aren’t overpowering at all. They just add a lovely salty, meatiness to the pasta.
I love the simplicity! I’m not sure about anchovies but I shoul try it!