Cavatappi

Anchovy, Olive, Bread Crumbs

Sometimes a mistake can lead to a good thing. Cavatappi is one of those good things, it was created in the 1970's when an extruder at Barilla in Parma was mistakenly producing spiral shapes instead of straight ones, and thus the "corkscrew" was born. Now it's usually featured in your aunt's summer potluck pasta salad covered in Wishbone Italian dressing, but this shorter and fatter cousin to fusilli lunghi is anything but uninspiring and can lend itself to some really nice recipes.

Anchovies are one of my favorite ingredients to cook with. High-end refrigerated, low-end canned, paste, and colatura di alici, I love it all. And while I love how complimentary anchovies can be in dish, there aren’t enough that feature the anchovy for how mighty this tiny fish really is. This recipe was created to pay tribute to this briny and fishy ingredient that is balanced by a pasta that is seemingly light. Take off your rings before eating, because this one is a salty dog.

Servings: 4 - Time: ~30 minutes - Difficulty: 2 - Take-a Your Time

Ingredients & Mise en Place

16 oz. cavatappi
anchovy in oil - buy refrigerated if you can find it - 3.5 oz. chopped - 8 filets reserved
1/2 cup castlevetrano olives - roughly chopped
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
1 tbsp. capers - roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves - minced
1 pint kumato tomatoes - diced
1 tbsp. dried parsley
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
pepper

Directions

Bring a large deep stockpot of heavily salted water to a boil.

Meanwhile in a sauté pan over medium heat combine bread crumbs, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and parsley until they toast and begin to stick together. Continue to toast until a golden brown. Remove from heat and add to a bowl for finishing.

Add pasta to the water - it will take about seven minutes to cook so try to pace the pasta to coincide with the finishing of the sauce. Next, in a deep sauté pan over medium heat, heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil and then add garlic. Once aromatic and soft (about 2 minutes) add in the tomatoes and chopped anchovy.  Stir frequently. Once the anchovies have melted (yes, they do that) stir in the capers, olives, and pepper to taste.

Reserving 1/4 cup of the pasta water, strain the pasta and add to the pause. Stir to combine.

Divide into four portions and plate each bowl of pasta by sprinkling bread crumbs on top and 1-2 whole anchovy filets to finish.