“Mom’s Anchovy Pasta”
I made this dish for the first time for dinner on New Year’s day. We had had a busy day starting with packing up the outdoor Christmas decorations and spending the afternoon driving through Ed’s hometown, about an hour away. The weather was beautiful, with high temps in the 70s. It was a really lovely family day!
But after being away most of the day, we got home just before dinner time with empty stomachs and I had no plan for dinner yet. Fortunately many of the recipes in “The Comfortable Kitchen” are quick and can be made with basic pantry ingredients.
I quickly decided on Mom’s Anchovy Pasta for a couple of reasons. Pasta is always a dish that will satisfy everyone in the family. This dish is ready in 20 minutes and bonus – there is no meat so the fact I had nothing thawed was not a problem at all!
First Time with Substitutions
This recipe calls for basic ingredients, most of which I keep on hand, but I had to substitute a couple of items I did not have. For starters, I did not have a shallot. I keep can tomato sauce and tomatoes stocked in the pantry but this recipe calls for can cherry tomatoes. Honestly, I did not even know such a thing existed! Alex offers a substitution if you are unable to find canned cherry tomatoes but I did not have the substitution on hand either. What can I say, I had not done a big grocery shopping trip since before Christmas. I did have a can of regular diced tomatoes so that is what I went with for dinner.
Everyone loved this pasta!! We had a yummy dinner on the table in minutes. Win!!
Round Two
Now that I knew canned cherry tomatoes were a thing, I made it my mission to find some locally. Lucky for me, I did not have to search long or far. I go to Sprout’s pretty regularly and was happy to find the Mutti canned tomatoes. I picked up the canned cherry tomatoes as well as stocked the pantry with some large cans of crushed tomatoes and baby Roma tomatoes while I was at it.
Can you believe I still didn’t have a shallot when I made this a second time? Poor planning on my part but the missing shallot was not going to stop me from making this again.
As you can tell in the photos, the cherry tomatoes gave this dish much more substantial sauce. If I had not almost doubled the amount of pasta, it would have been even saucier.
If you can find canned cherry tomatoes, definitely use them! The dish was really delicious the first time, even better still the second time with the cherry tomatoes! It’s worth the hunt!
“But I don’t like anchovies”
What about the anchovies? You may be thinking you would leave them out. Don’t!! Trust me – I do not like anchovies – but ever since I saw Rachael Ray use them as a base to many of her recipes, especially tomato sauces, I was definitely intrigued. The anchovies – if you use whole – melt away to a paste. You can even buy anchovy paste in a tube which is what I used both times I made this recipe. The anchovies add a bit of a briny, salty taste to the sauce. You won’t taste “fish” and will have no idea there are anchovies in the dish, however, I do think the sauce is so much better with the addition of the anchovies.
I will be making this recipe again and again. It is such a quick and delicious weeknight meal but I would not hesitate to serve it for company either. The next time, however, I will make certain I have a shallot so I can taste “Mom’s Anchovy Pasta” exactly as it is meant to taste!
Check out my post on the first recipe from this "Cook the Book" series, paleo pigs in a blanket, here!
One Comment