“I make your coat-on almond biscuits most weeks,” a lady instructed 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 wished 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 Eat, to which the lady replied: “What a beneficiant meals author you’re.” 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 numerous 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 the way 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 buddy 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 isn’t a lot a sauce however a flavourful and quick coating for the skinny strings of pasta. It’s also a condiment wherein the olive oil performs a basic function, so use the most effective you’ve got, and don’t skimp.
I’ve steered slicing the garlic, however if you’d like a milder flavour, crush the cloves in order that they break however stay entire. In the event you favor a extra intense flavour, chop the cloves, whereas, for probably the most intense flavour of all, squash the cloves with the aspect of a knife till they scale 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 facility (culinary, biblical, or each) of tinned sardines: a small tin or two packs an intensely flavoured punch and goes a great distance. If you will discover fennel fronds or dill, nice, in any other case parsley works properly because the inexperienced natural ingredient. Once more, what you’re making right here isn’t 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 recent tomatoes require somewhat extra time and peeling, in any other case, the skins curl into laborious bits when the flesh is mashed to a mushy 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 recent and peeled
1 tsp crimson chill flakes
1 handful basil leaves
Carry a pan of water to a boil, add some salt, then cook dinner the spaghetti in line with 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 mushy 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 – this can take about 4 minutes on a vigorous 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 directly.
Spaghetti with tinned sardines, anchovy, capers, chilli and lemon
Attempt to discover sardines packed in olive oil, wherein case you’ll be able to scale 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 crimson 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 crimson chilli flakes
1 handful minced parsley
Zest of 1 unwaxed lemon, plus a squeeze of juice
Carry a pan of water to a boil for the spaghetti, season with salt, then add the pasta and cook dinner in line with 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 mushy and aromatic. Add the sardines, anchovies, capers and chilli, and fry gently, mashing the fish right into a mushy, 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.
