Over at Confessions of a Food Nazi, Outspoken Female was wondering what to do with fresh, fat chilies, those delightful compact vermilion packages of fire.
I commented with the following recipe, which I have made many times over the years. I don't think I have ever posted it on this weblog, so here it is.
Pasta with semi-dried tomatoes, anchovies and chili.
The blandness of good quality pasta flecked with the sweet acid richness of semi-dried tomatoes, the salty bite of anchovies and the unerring heat of chilies makes this an unbeatable taste sensation.
Make the semi-dried tomatoes. Slowly bake small halved or quartered very good quality vine-ripened tomatoes, brushed with olive oil and scattered with a little salt, garlic powder and sugar, until 'semi-dry'. This will take several hours. Drizzle a little more olive oil over them towards the end. Or use store-bought ones.
Chop, chop, chop. Chop four or five semi-dried tomatoes into small pieces. Chop a dozen anchovies into small pieces. Chop one or two or three chilies into very small pieces. We are not cooking the chili so it must be very finely chopped or you will burn your mouth.
Cook your pasta. The finer strands work best with this. I like linguine.
Combine. Drain the pasta and toss it immediately (so it retains some moisture before it evaporates) in a big white serving dish, with the tomatoes, the anchovies and the chili. No additional oil will be needed, the residual oil on the tomatoes and the anchovies should be enough. Chopped parsley optional.
Serve immediately with very good, very crusty buttered bread.
I commented with the following recipe, which I have made many times over the years. I don't think I have ever posted it on this weblog, so here it is.
Pasta with semi-dried tomatoes, anchovies and chili.
The blandness of good quality pasta flecked with the sweet acid richness of semi-dried tomatoes, the salty bite of anchovies and the unerring heat of chilies makes this an unbeatable taste sensation.
Make the semi-dried tomatoes. Slowly bake small halved or quartered very good quality vine-ripened tomatoes, brushed with olive oil and scattered with a little salt, garlic powder and sugar, until 'semi-dry'. This will take several hours. Drizzle a little more olive oil over them towards the end. Or use store-bought ones.
Chop, chop, chop. Chop four or five semi-dried tomatoes into small pieces. Chop a dozen anchovies into small pieces. Chop one or two or three chilies into very small pieces. We are not cooking the chili so it must be very finely chopped or you will burn your mouth.
Cook your pasta. The finer strands work best with this. I like linguine.
Combine. Drain the pasta and toss it immediately (so it retains some moisture before it evaporates) in a big white serving dish, with the tomatoes, the anchovies and the chili. No additional oil will be needed, the residual oil on the tomatoes and the anchovies should be enough. Chopped parsley optional.
Serve immediately with very good, very crusty buttered bread.
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