a plate of spaghetti - by Claudia De Berardinis
Hello! and so, here is a quick recipe for a very pleasing plate of spaghetti that I ate quite happily to myself just yesterday in between cleaning artichokes, making chocolate cake and brining a chook.
It’s a sauce that can be quickly thrown together using the same principles to that of a pesto; garlic, herb, nut, olive oil, parmesan, lemon rind, lemon juice, salt, pepper. You can play around however you like. I chose roasted almonds, a handful of parsley with stems, a garlic clove, parmesan en mass, glug(s) of olive oil, juice and zest of 1 lemon, big pinches of salt and pepper, and a few cheeky anchovy fillets. Don’t worry if you make too much, this stuff lasts for days.
To keep the romance alive, I bash the ingredients in a mortar & pestle with a little of the olive oil to a thick paste and then slowly incorporate the rest of the olive oil until I get a consistency I want to deal with - not too thick but not too liquidy…perfectly emulsified - a word that I suppose would mean all the ingredients are at one together. Adjust seasoning as you feel, add some more lemon juice, maybe salt, maybe a bit of red wine vinegar if you want extra tang. You can also just use a food processor or blender, that’s much more fuss free (less romantic though).
I drop the pasta (for one) into a bubbling & salted pot of water and while that is cooking I heat up a seperate pan. I go into that heated pan with a knob of butter and a similar quantity of water and let them once again, emulsify - swirling the pan from time to time to help the butter/water get to know each other. You are basically making a butter sauce. If you see the sauce starting to brown, just take it off the heat and add a little bit more water to stop the cooking process. When your pasta is cooked al dente, drop it in to the pan and swoosh around to get all the little strands coated and glossy. Then go in with however much of the pesto you like, probably about (2-3 heaped tablespoons) letting it hit the heat for only a minute or so to remove any raw garlic taste. If it’s too gluggy, add more pasta water and mix it around over the heat once more. If it’s too wet, grate in more parmesan or add some more butter. You should have a very creamy texture by the end. Adjust seasoning, add more lemon juice off heat if need be. I finished mine with bottarga that was in the fridge.
Happy eating! X
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