Tomato and anchovy pasta is a delicious dish that packs a surprisingly bold flavour for a recipe using a few store cupboard ingredients.
It's a quick recipe too, preparation will take you around 10 minutes and the sauce cooks in the same amount of time it takes to cook your spaghetti.
Tomato and Anchovy Spaghetti
Tinned fish is a nutritious, frugal and absolutely delicious protein to add to a pasta sauce.
I've got examples that range from a tuna and tomato pasta, and a creamy canned salmon pasta, to a superb sardine bolognese.
My latest offering is a tasty and extremely easy anchovy and tomato pasta sauce.
Anchovies divide opinion, but I love them; they add an incredible depth of flavour for very little money.
Here they sit at the heart of a simple tomato passata-based sauce with garlic, lemon and a little chilli.
Cooking this dish takes no more than 15 minutes, and preparation is 10 minutes tops. Making this a wonderful, quick and easy mid-week meal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use different types of pasta?
Yes, this pasta sauce is incredibly versatile; it works well with most types of pasta, and it is particularly good with tubes like penne and rigatoni.
Take a note of your pasta cooking time. You want the sauce to cook for about 8-10 minutes on a low heat to thicken a little. So adjust when you add your pasta to the boiling water to facilitate this.
Can I use tinned tomatoes rather than passata?
Yes, I prefer a really smooth sauce for this recipe. But chopped tinned tomatoes work just as well.
Should I chop the anchovies?
There is no need; the anchovies will begin to soften in the initial cooking phase, then break down in the tomato sauce as it cooks.
Just open that tin and throw them into the pan; this is cooking at its easiest!
Can I make this in advance?
If you wish, the sauce sits fine in the fridge for 4-5 days in an airtight container. However, as the sauce cooks in the same time it takes to make pasta, you will not make any significant time savings.
The sauce is safe to eat cold, but I think that it is much better when it is hot.
Serving Suggestions
I always keep my sides for pasta dishes really simple and very easy, and this anchovy and tomato spaghetti recipe is no different.
It's a dish that is about lazy, quick cooking from the store cupboard, and I keep my sides equally simple.
I typically cook a couple of pieces of garlic bread from the freezer, or make up a quick garlic baguette.
Although I do have a deep love for this soft potato focaccia, I typically make 3 or 4 portions, freeze them up, and then reheat them from frozen.
Equipment Used
I only mention specific brands of equipment if I think that they make a material difference to a recipe. But if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.
- Hob/stovetop.
- 28cm or 11" frying pan.
- 20cm or 8" saucepan.
- Colander.
- Chopping board.
- Kitchen knife.
- Stirring and serving spoons and kitchen tongs.
- A combination of weighing scales, a measuring jug, measuring cups and spoons.
Tomato and Anchovy Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 50 g Tinned Anchovies in Olive Oil 2oz
- 1 Small Echalion or Banana Shallot 25g
- 2 Garlic Cloves
- 1 Lemon
- 250 ml Tomato Passata 1 Cup
- ⅛ teaspoon Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Salt (plus extra for boiling the pasta)
- ¼ teaspoon Dried Chilli Flakes
- 200 g Spaghetti 7oz
Instructions
- Begin by bringing a 20cm or 8" saucepan of well salted water to a boil. I use 1½-2 teaspoons of salt in a pan this size.
- Cut the shallot in half, peel it and then dice it as finely as you can.
- Bash the garlic cloves with the side of a knife, peel them, then dice them as finely as you can.
- Zest the lemon, then cut the lemon in half.
- Heat a 28cm or 11" frying pan over a medium heat, when it is hot add the anchovies, diced shallot and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Pour in the tomato passata, add the lemon zest, sugar, salt and chilli flakes, stir, reduce the heat to low and allow to cook whilst you cook the pasta.
- Add the spaghetti to the boiling water (as soon as you start cooking the anchovies) and cook until al dente. Then drain, reserving around 75ml or ⅓ cup of the cooking water.
- Drain the pasta, add it to the sauce and mix, pouring in as much of the pasta cooking water as required to form a nice emulsion.
- Have a taste, and squeeze in lemon juice to taste, mix and serve.
