Giovanni Passerini’s recipe for Spaghetti di Mezzanot
Ingredients for 4 people
400 grams of spaghetti
2 slices of country bread
4 anchovies
1 lemon
2 cloves of garlic
1 small dry red chili
12 Selina Caper
40 grams of parsley
250 ml extra virgin olive oil
salt flower
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Remove the crust from the bread and cut into irregular cubes of about 3 cm on each side. Bake them till they get a dark brown color so that they are even crispy at the heart. If you have time, let rest for 30 minutes once roasted. Then break them using a mortar or rolling pin. Season with a little extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of fleur de sel.
Chop the parsley and set aside. Peel the garlic cloves and cut them in half, remove the stems and very finely chop them with a knife or mandoline.
In a large pan, heat the olive oil, anchovies, chilli, well-drained capers and garlic. Be careful not to overheat the oil or the garlic may fry and taste too strong. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil then add the spaghetti.
Take the pasta out of the water while it is still very al dente and put it in the pan with the sauce, sprinkle with a little cooking water and start the “mantecatura”: the sauce will thicken as the pan heats up. Stir for about 3 minutes. If the sauce seems too runny, keep stirring and turn the flame as high as possible. If, on the contrary, it seems dry, add a little more cooking water. When the spaghetti is bound, grate the lemon zest, then add 4 Tbsp. Finish with lemon juice coffee, parsley and bread croutons. Mix everything together one last time and serve.
Cooking – 60 easy recipes for a tough tomorrowVictoire Loop, published online and in bookshops 10 November (Human Humans, €19.90)
https://cuiteslelivre.com
Passerini, 65, rue Traversière, 75012 Paris, www.passerini.paris