Tonight's dinner was yet another recipe from Jamie's Italy. I was knackered after a hard day at uni, (seriously, does anyone wake up at 8 in the morning anymore?), but managed to knock this up after coming home.


Pasta Con Acciughe e Pomodoro

Jamie says to use margherita pasta if you can find it - kind of like fettucine with one curly side, or just spaghetti or tagliatelle. I found some unusual pasta at the deli the other day, curly down both edges, so I decided to use that.

To make the scanty sauce (it just coats the pasta - no drowning the pasta in sauce, 1980's Aussie bistro stylie), you heat oil in a pan, then add garlic, pine nuts, raisins and anchovies, cooking until the anchovies melt. Then you add some tomato puree and a glass of red wine, and cook until thickened and reduced. You serve it with fried breadcrumbs over the top, which I guess is kinda a poor-man's version of parmesan cheese. I really liked the interest which it added to the dish.

The sauce is unusual, and I was a bit hesitant about serving this to my bro and my dad, but they loved it. I should have realised this though; the pine-nut-raisin-anchovy combo always works well in my household! My hero Nigella would probably use marsala in place of the red wine, and I would not be adverse to trying that next time.