This recipe for a Calabrian linguine dish is a glorious healthy combination of pasta with with tomato sugo (kinda) rich in summer green flavours, with a zing of citrus and chilli, and the deeper flavours of healthy olives and anchovies in various forms.
Un pezzo di pane
This pescatarian dish is actually authentic; authentic in the sense that it is a dish my father documented in his journals in the 1960s. Like father, like son: he was very good at befriending locals and getting them to teach him their cooking secrets before I was even a twinkle in his eye.
My "summer holiday" this year has been time spent with old friends and cooking for them. In the case of this one, I've cooked it here for my oldest friend in the world, Chrys. My father would have approved. Denton loved cooking for Chrys and once told me that she was my friend who "most elevated me". Yeah, Da', embarrassing much?
In one of his journals, from the 1960s, his neat handwriting describes learning this recipe from the woman who ran a favourite eatery, discovered when docked in Gioia Tauro, a port in Calabria. Curious for me is exactly what her was doing in Gioia Tauro in the 1960s. From what I understand from 20th-century Italian history, Gioia Tauro only became the preferred port for development after central government policy diverted development money there in the 1970s after conflicts with unions and organised crime shifted the focus away from Reggio Calabria, traditionally the main port in this region of Southern Italy. But, I digress.
This was another dish he taught me to cook early, one of his typical late night cooking lessons or—given it's a "slow cook" dish— we'd cook it together while listening to something or other on the BBC World Service on a Saturday afternoon or early evening.
His summary to me as a kid—something I see evident in his journal—was that this was a dish that relies on "combining green flavours with a little heat and a lot of depth". The backbone of the dish is a classic Italian tomato sauce of summer flavours with lemon, green asparagus and green leaves. The little heat comes from the peperoncino, the spicier red chillies used in Southern Italian cooking. And the depth comes from the use of two kinds of olives and anchovies. It is essentially a simple dish. With a little patience and respect it becomes a truly fantastic dish.
In terms of the pasta, I recommend using a medium linguine (such as the dried one labelled No.13). But it also works with tagliatelle or good old spaghetti; dried or fresh.
Similarly, the recipe calls for "anchovy sauce". You can find many excellent Italian anchovy sauces around the world if you want to go all "speciality deli"—according to my father's journal, the woman who taught it to him claimed this recipe is based on the Ancient Roman tradition of garum, a kind of fermented fish sauce the Romans of old used as a cooking stock in many dishes. I usually cook it with Geo Watkins Anchovy Sauce, widely available in the UK and beyond. However, you can readily opt for a decent Worcestershire Sauce, always made with anchovies, that is even more widely available globally.
You can use fresh anchovies if you prefer. The reality is that this recipe actually works far better with the tinned variety (as long as preserved in olive oil).
NB: this is a "slow cook" sauce. Only at one point will you cook it on a hot heat. If you don't have the patience to kick around patiently in the kitchen, set your alarm and retire to watch TV with a cocktail... You can time your dish so that you cook the sauce and then the pasta to be ready simultaneously. Or, you can prepare the sauce even days before, store in the fridge and then reheat to time with the pasta.
NB, if preparing the sauce in advance and then reheating, do not add the anchovies until the reheating stage. It's really important that the anchovies are not overcooked. Unlike the anchovy sauce, which really does need to be cooked in, they should not flake and disintegrate.
This recipe is for two to three adults. You can readily adjust the quantities to make it in larger portions. (smaller portions are less successful).
Shopping list
For the Calabrian linguine with summer tomato suace
Enough linguine per diner (approx. 90g per diner, dried)
2 or 3 medium red onions, cubed
4 tbspns extra virgin olive oil
A 400g can peeled plum tomatoes in their juice
4 cloves of garlic; peeled and finely cubed or grated
3 heaped tbspns tomato purée
2 tspns minced peperoncino peppers
1 large long sweet red pepper (or red bell pepper), cubed
3 tspns oregano
5 tbsns anchovy sauce (or alternatives; see above)
Approx. 200g green asparagus, washed and cut into pieces
Approx 70g pitted black olives, sliced
Approx 70g pitted green olives, sliced
40g pea shoots, hand shredded
40g young spinach, fresh or frozen; hand-shredded
The juice and pith of ½ a fresh lemon
2 squares of bitter dark chocolate, grated
100g tinned anchovies (in olive oil), drained and chopped
300ml dry white wine
black pepper/salt to taste
For Chrys' salad
Green leaves of choice —ideally two types of lettuce
Cucumber, sliced or chopped
A mix of cherry and heritage yellow tomatoes
A classic viniagrette dressing — nope, not your classic Italian
Cooking method
In a fairly large pot with a lid, heat the olive oil on a medium heat. When hot, add the garlic and sizzle. NB, if it does not sizzle, do not increase the heat. Rather, cover until the garlic begins to sizzle. (Only increase the heat if it is not sizzling after 10mins).
Sizzle the garlic gently until golden. Add the minced (red) peperoncini, and stir in. Add a small dash of wine. Cook for no more than a few minutes. Add the onions; stir, cover and sweat, adding a dash more wine and stirring if necessary to prevent sticking
When the onions are notably softened, add the sweet red pepper and stir in. Cover and sweat for 5 or 6mins—if the temperature is correct, it will not stick
When the red peppers start to soften, add about half of the remaining white wine; season with salt and black pepper. Re-cover and simmer these ingredients on a medium-to-low heat until all are notably tender
Add the peeled plum tomatoes and their juice. Add the oregano and the remainder of the wine. Stir, cover and increase the heat to bring to the boil. Boil at a high heat for at least 5mins
In the interim, add the tomato purée to the empty tomato can and fill with boiling water from the kettle, dissolving the purée. Gently pour into the pot. Stir, re-cover and boil on a high heat for a further 5mins
Reduce to a medium-to-low heat, cover and simmer for 15mins, stirring occasionally if needed, to prevent sticking
After 15mins, add the anchovy sauce (or alternatives). Re-cover and simmer for another 15mins. Then, add the sliced black olives—simultaneously gently breaking up the tomatoes—re-cover and simmer for a further 15mins, reducing to a low-to-medium heat
Add the sliced green olives and lemon juice. Stir, re-cover and simmer for a further 15mins
Add the chopped green asparagus, stir in . Reduce to a very low heat and simmer for about 5mins, Add the pea shoots and spinach and cook for a further 5 to 6mins. Then, add the chocolate and stir in
The sauce should already be greatly reduced. But, following adding the chocolate and stirring in, this process will rapidly increase. Add the chopped anchovies, stirring almost constantly, ensuring they cook for no longer than about 3mins—you want them nicely hot but not really to "cook". Remove from the heat the minute this sauce reaches optimum consistency. Re-cover and allow to rest
In that last 15 minutes or so of cooking your sauce, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add your linguine and cook for 12 to 14mins; until cooked perfectly al dente. Drain and return to the pot, dressing with a little olive oil. Cover and allow to rest
Plate the linguine, spoon on the sauce in desired quantities and serve with the green salad and rustic bread of choice
Alternatives
This is by default a pescatarian dish with anchovies being one of its most notable flavours—though according to my dad's notes it's also traditionally made with large prawns, scallops or filleted sardines.
The dish is easily made vegan by simply excluding the anchovy sauce and anchovies, compensating with additional green asparagus. Personally, when I've done this, I advise using the pith and juice of a whole lemon to give that little extra. Ultimately, it's essentially a puttanesca variant in the vegan form.
According to my father's notes—and I have certainly cooked this version—the carnivore version of this dish involves adding sliced cooked sausages cooked with oregano in lieu of the anchovies above and leaving out the lemon. It certainly is delicious but is literally a meatier dish I think works better autumn or winter, perhaps a little heavy for a summer in Southern Italy.
Pairings
This really is one of those "colour agnostic" dishes. The fresh aspects and fish might prompt one in the direction of a white; the tomatoes, depths of anchovies and olives in the direction of a red. Frankly, either works for me. In the case of a white, needless to say that one of those almost sunburnt Sicilian whites such as Iniceri Abisso Cataratto have delivered on numerous occasions But, so too have meaty Chilean sauvignon blancs.. Nor should you ever underestimate those peppery undertows of a good South African chenin blanc—the butchest of white wines—to deal with the proper kick that is in this dish.
Conversely, the light touch of a lighter Tuscan Sangiovese or a Californian Pinot Noir—neither without their own need for sunscreen—have both also proven trustworthy companions with this dish for me in the past.
As always, we will ask Karel. When it comes to pasta, I think this one could even make it onto his approval spectrum.
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