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Anchovies Pasta

Courtesy of Nigella Lawson:

Ingredients

• spaghetti or linguine
• olive oil
• achovies
• lemon
• garlic
• butter
• parsley
• chives

Instructions

• Cook some spaghetti or linguine and, when it’s almost done, pour some olive oil into a pan,
• toss in some anchovies (I might use four fillets, I might use a whole tin).
• Stir them over the heat until they break up and seem to melt into the oil then grate or mince in some garlic along with some finely grated lemon zest (a little, if you simply want to offset the deep savouriness of the anchovy with a bit of brightness; a lot if you want out-and-out lemoniness).
• Just before you add the drained pasta (keeping some pasta water in reserve) stir in a loaded spoonful or three of unsalted butter, switch off the heat, swirling the pan until the butter’s melted, then tip in the drained pasta.
• Toss everything together, adding a little pasta water at a time, beating well to help release the starch as you go, until you have a creamily emulsified (if dismally toned) sauce. You may feel the need to squeeze in some lemon juice.
• Then I recommend roughly chopping a handful of parsley and mixing that in as well, leaving a little to sprinkle on top.
• On some days I go for finely chopped chives instead.
• I can also recommend a combination of fresh dill fronds or finely chopped mint (such an egregiously overlooked herb, at least in European kitchens) and toasted pine nuts.