Spaghetti with anchovies, tomato and prosciutto

Food is difficult to photograph well, that's a given. But, pasta is particularly difficult. All those beautiful, glossy photos you see in magazines and cookbooks are edited, re-edited and re-touched many times to make the food look as scrumptious as possible. This is not easy at home, so I'm aware that all my pasta photographs are not exactly professional.

That being said, this recipe was a winner. One of those thrown together, last minute meals when you realise it's already 7o'clock and you haven't even begun to think about dinner.

"Anchovies, anchovies, you're so delicious, I love you more than all the other fishes". I don't remember where I heard this, but it's pretty true when pasta is involved. I love the way they just melt into the sauce but pack a big flavour punch, not so much fishy as distinctly savoury. There's a reason why both Worcestershire and fish sauce rely on anchovies to give them that strong, meaty taste. They are also really good mashed into butter to create an interesting sauce for vegetables and steak and, of course, they are a component of salsa verde, another sauce with powerful flavours often paired with steak.

 

Some prosciutto, oregano from the balcony, shallots, tomatoes and anchovies were the only ingredients in this simple pasta sauce, but allowing it to cook down with some of the starchy pasta water, (a technique just highlighted in Bon Appetit magazine), created a sauce with amazing flavour and depth. Sweet and sour from the tomatoes and shallots, meaty from the anchovies, salty from the prosciutto and herbal from the oregano. My new favourite.

 

Recipe:Spaghetti with anchovies, prosciutto and tomatoes

1 tsp oil

2 tsp butter

3 shallots, sliced

4 pieces Prosciutto, diced

2 anchovies, diced

15 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano

Spaghetti for two.

1/4 cup Parmesan

black pepper

Heat the oil and 1 tsp butter in a skillet over medium heat until hot and add the Prosciutto and shallots. Fry, stirring until the shallots are beginning to soften.

Add the anchovies and tomatoes and reduce the heat to low. Stir occasionally, checking the sauce is becoming soft and juicy from the tomatoes. Let it cook while you boil the pasta.

Heat a pan full of water until boiling and add 1 tbsp salt, (it should be quite salty, so don't think this is too much), add the pasta and boil until almost cooked. Remove from the heat.

Drain the pasta and add to the sauce with the oregano, 1 more tsp butter and a little of the pasta cooking water (about 2 tbsp). Over medium heat, stir well together for a few moments until hot, well mixed and thickened but still a sauce consistency.

Serve on warmed plates with Parmesan and some black pepper.