TAGLIARINI WITH ANCHOVY, CHILLI & GARLIC

This is a supper pretty much made with store-cupboard ingredients, if like me, you always have garlic, lemons and chillies in the kitchen. When I see fresh bunches of parsley at the market I like to chop and freeze them, as a generous handful of herbs is always a welcome addition to a speedy supper. A jar of anchovy fillets in olive oil is another store-cupboard favourite of mine.

SERVES 4

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan, add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds before adding the chilli. Cook on a gentle heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, making sure the garlic doesn’t brown – both the garlic and chilli should be nice and soft and barely coloured. Stir in the anchovy fillets, leave on a low heat as they slowly melt into the sauce, then take pan off the heat and leave to one side.

Now roll and shape the tagliarini.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil before adding a generous amount of table salt. Carefully drop the pasta into the boiling water. If you are using fresh pasta cook for 2 minutes, for dried pasta follow the instructions on the packet.

While the pasta is cooking, place the sauce pan back on the heat, adding half a ladle of the pasta cooking water to it to loosen the sauce.

Once the pasta is cooked, use tongs to transfer it to the sauce (any water clinging to the pasta will soon be absorbed into the sauce). Keep aside some extra pasta cooking water, you never know if you’ll need a little more to get the perfect consistency.

Toss the pasta and sauce together, or simply mix with tongs if you’re worried for your kitchen floor! Add the lemon juice and parsley and toss again, loosening the sauce if needed and then checking the seasoning to your taste.

Serve straight away, topping each plateful with a generous handful of pangratatto.