Spaghetti with Green Olive Sauce
A traditional pasta from Puglia, this is a fine example of la cucina povera, or how poor cooks, using the best ingredients available to them, often make superb dishes. Here, plain green olives take the place of more expensive meat or fish, and crisp fried bread crumbs stand in for the luxury of grated cheese; the result is a meager dish that is nonetheless full of good flavors.
The best olives for this, if you can find them, are big green olives from Castelvetrano in Sicily; truth to tell, just about any good-quality green olives will do, as long as they are simply brine-cured and not mixed with other flavorings.
SERVES 6
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¾ cup unflavored bread crumbs
6 anchovy fillets
3 plump garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
1 small dried red chili pepper, crumbled, or crushed red pepper flakes to taste
1½ cups coarsely chopped pitted green olives (1 to 2 pounds whole olives before pitting)
Sea salt
About 1 pound (500 grams) spaghetti or other long, thin pasta
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a small saucepan. Add the bread crumbs and toast until they are golden brown and crisp. Remove from the heat and set aside. Chop the anchovy fillets coarsely.
In another saucepan, heat 3 tablespoons of the oil. Gently cook the garlic over medium heat until the cloves are brown. Add the anchovies and, using a fork, stir and crush them into the oil. Crush the garlic cloves slightly to release their flavor, then remove the whole cloves and discard. Add the chili pepper and olives and let them cook for about 3 minutes, just long enough to mix the flavors. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the salt (keeping mind that the anchovies will add saltiness) and the pasta and cook following the directions here.
When the pasta is done, drain it and turn it into a warm bowl. Immediately add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and the bread crumbs to the olive sauce and turn this over the pasta. Toss and serve immediately.