“I make your coat-on almond biscuits most weeks,” a girl informed me within the homeware division of John Lewis on Oxford Avenue, London, a number of months in the past. She went on to say that she additionally attaches the “coat-on” expression to any dish she will get going as quickly as she walks via the door (and earlier than she takes off her coat and has a pee), so thinks of me when she makes coat-on lentils, coat-on rice and leeks, coat-on tomato sauce, coat-on couscous with roast greens. As a lot as I needed to maintain the praise to myself and never share it, I did remind her that I had borrowed the expression from Nigella Lawson and her ebook The best way to Eat, to which the lady replied: “What a beneficiant meals author you might be.” I thanked her again, complimented her on her blue jacket, then bounced all the best way to the money desk to pay for the dishcloths and potato peeler, after which all alongside Oxford Avenue.
If I ever see that girl once more, I would like to inform her that, since our assembly, I’ve additionally been attaching the prefix “coat-on” to varied dishes and actions, not least boiling the kettle to jumpstart the water for coat-on spaghetti. Coincidentally, it’s 20 years since I moved to Rome; 19 and a half years since Vincenzo and I first argued about find out how to cook dinner pasta (him telling me I used too little water and salt, and took an excessive amount of time; me telling him he was supercilious and boring); and 10 years since I first wrote about spaghetti for this column. Some issues have modified, others haven’t (salt), and I now have a medium-sized repertoire of coat-on spaghettis.
The primary of those speedy, coat-on favourites is spaghetti with a fast tomato, garlic and chilli sauce. It’s described by a Neapolitan pal as a combination between a fast tomato sauce (AKA sciue sciue, pronounced “shway shway” and which means “hurry hurry’’) and that store-cupboard saviour spaghetti with garlic, chilli and olive oil (aglio, olio e peperoncino, or AOP). Like spaghetti AOP, spaghetti with fast tomato, garlic and chilli sauce shouldn’t be a lot a sauce however a flavourful and quick coating for the skinny strings of pasta. It is usually a condiment through which the olive oil performs a basic position, so use the perfect you’ve got, and don’t skimp.
I’ve instructed slicing the garlic, however in order for you a milder flavour, crush the cloves so that they break however stay entire. If you happen to want a extra intense flavour, chop the cloves, whereas, for probably the most intense flavour of all, squash the cloves with the facet of a knife till they cut back to a paste.
The second coat-on recipe is a store-cupboard model of the Sicilian dish pasta con le sarde (pasta with sardines and wild fennel), which additionally showcases the ability (culinary, biblical, or each) of tinned sardines: a small tin or two packs an intensely flavoured punch and goes a good distance. If you will discover fennel fronds or dill, nice, in any other case parsley works nicely because the inexperienced natural aspect. Once more, what you make right here shouldn’t be a lot a sauce as a tasty condiment that coats the strands of spaghetti.
Spaghetti with fast tomato, garlic and chilli sauce
Tinned plum tomatoes assist the “hurry”, after all, whereas contemporary tomatoes require a bit extra time and peeling, in any other case, the skins curl into exhausting bits when the flesh is mashed to a delicate pulp. Use your best-tasting olive oil – and don’t skimp: it’s the important ingredient.
Prep 5 min
Prepare dinner 10 min
Serves 4
Salt
450g spaghetti
6-8 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
3 entire, peeled plum tomatoes, tinned or contemporary and peeled
1 tsp pink chill flakes
1 handful basil leaves
Deliver a pan of water to a boil, add some salt, then cook dinner the spaghetti based on the packet directions, till al dente.
In the meantime, in a big frying pan, gently heat the olive oil and garlic, so the garlic turns into delicate and aromatic, then add the tomatoes, chilli and a pinch of salt, and fry gently, mashing the tomatoes with the again of a fork or potato masher, so the flesh breaks down into a country sauce – it will take about 4 minutes on a energetic warmth. (If the sauce is prepared earlier than the pasta, pull the pan off the warmth, then return it simply earlier than including the spaghetti.)
As soon as the spaghetti is al dente, use a forked spoon or spider sieve to raise it straight into the tomato pan, full with the residual cooking water clinging to it, then toss very vigorously, ripping within the basil leaves as you accomplish that. Serve without delay.
Spaghetti with tinned sardines, anchovy, capers, chilli and lemon
Attempt to discover sardines packed in olive oil, through which case you possibly can cut back the quantity of olive oil listed beneath. The identical guidelines apply to the garlic on this recipe as within the final, whereas the lemon zest is essential – it’s lifting and sharpening!
Prep 5 min
Prepare dinner 10 min
Serves 4
450g spaghetti
Salt
6 tbsp olive oil, or 3 tbsp in case your sardines are packed in olive oil)
1 pink onion, peeled and finely sliced
1 x 120g tin sardines, drained – if the sardines are packed in olive oil, put it aside for the sauce
2 anchovies
1 tbsp small capers
1 tsp pink chilli flakes
1 handful minced parsley
Zest of 1 unwaxed lemon, plus a squeeze of juice
Deliver a pan of water to a boil for the spaghetti, season with salt, then add the pasta and cook dinner based on packet directions, till al dente.
In the meantime, in a big frying pan, gently heat the oil, together with the olive oil from the sardine tin, should you’ve bought that, then add the onion and a small pinch of salt, and cook dinner till the onion turns delicate and aromatic. Add the sardines, anchovies, capers and chilli, and fry gently, mashing the fish right into a delicate, oily mush with the again of a fork. (If the sauce is prepared earlier than the pasta, take it off the warmth, then return to the flame simply earlier than including the spaghetti.)
As soon as the spaghetti is al dente, use a forked spoon or spider sieve to raise it, full with the residual cooking water clinging to it, straight into the sardine pan, and toss very vigorously, including the parsley, lemon zest and some drops of lemon juice to style as you accomplish that.
