The other day Sophie and I were talking about pasta. We do that a lot.
We were discussing how everyone has their own twist on traditional dishes. For instance, even with something as seemingly straight forward as Cacio e Pepe, there are infinite variations in technique. Cheese in the bowl first? With a bit of cooking water? Or cold mineral water? Or no water at all? Pepper with the cheese? Or in the pan heated with water? We’ve seen it all.
“Well,” I said, “At least with Spaghetti Aglio, Olio, Peperoncino it’s always the same.”
“Yeah,” Sophie said, “Except that everyone I know in Rome also adds anchovies.”
Say what?
According to Sophie everyone she knows who makes this ultimate comfort food in Rome also adds anchovies. Except, she explained, you’d never know it. “They sort of melt into the oil, and so just give it that extra umami, “ she explained, “Which is kind of what you’re craving at 5am after you’ve been out dancing all night.”
Which explains why everyone she knows is making Aglio, Olio Peperoncino all the time. It’s what you have in the house when you come home from a long night out. (It is also what you probably have in your cupboard when you have to get dinner on the table and there’s nothing else in the house. So there’s that.)
And so without much ado, here is a video of Sophie, doing her thing.
At a much more reasonable hour than usual.
A few words about ingredients:
You’ll notice that Sophie used preserved red pepper, instead of either dried or fresh. We didn’t use fresh, since it’s not the right season. And these days we’re preferring preserved red pepper, processed at the height of the season from specific producers, over dried. It always gives a brighter, fruitier and more intense flavor than dried, in our humble opinion. The one you see above and in the video is produced in Sicily, available here, and excellent. Another one we are totally addicted to is produced by Iasa (the same folks who make amazing anchovies) and available here.
Pasta: we used Garafolo, which I think is one of the best pastas around for a relatively low price . In Italy you can find it easily in Supermarkets, and in the States you can buy it on Amazon, for a great price.
At the end, use a drizzle of the best olive oil you have. We used Frescobaldi Laudemio which is outstanding.
Disclaimer: I receive a small commission from any products you buy through the Amazon links above.
If you don’t have anchovies, you can (every good cook should have this on hand!) Vietnamese Nuoc Mam (fish sauce) add this.
Practically, every chef worth his salt uses it to add that, o what that’s?, umami to beef, pork, chicken dishes.
Good tip! Thanks.
You’re welcome.
Pease notice I revised my quickly, poorly written comment.
This looks delicious!
Besides Amazon, Costco also sells Garofalo pasta. I usually buy the six-pack (two bags each of penne, gemelli, and casarecce), but they also sell their spaghetti.
Love the idea of a six pack of pasta!
I thought everyone cooked with anchovies — they add that brininess and they melt away to some awesome flavor. Most of the time the simplest ingredients make the best dishes!!
You make my heart sing…my dad’s utter favorite. He never cooked but he loved olio-peperoncino pasta and made it for his own sweet self if he had the opportunity…which was only when my Irish mother was at church. It makes me laugh to think of it….Mille Grazie xo Mary
Anchovies?
I have made this dish a thousand times and never thought to add them.
Thank you, Sophie!
An often overlooked pasta which is simple and satisfying any time of day. Garafolo is a favorite pasta of mine and imagine – it is sometimes available at Costco and always at Eataly. Laudemio makes any dish spectacular. Loved the post!
Thank you Elizabeth and Sophie! We just made this for dinner and it was delicious. We used cellentani instead of linguine and it was rather nice. All those wiggly curlies covered in that sauce. Marvelous. The anchovy addition is brilliant. Grazie mille. Catherine
So nice to watch your daughter cook! Good job, Elizabeth
I love that you and your daughter are doing video recipes. This is one my hands-down favorite dishes. Italian comfort food at its best!
Thanks, such a great dish. Question: do you guys refrigerate the peppers and anchovies after you open them?
Yes, I do.
Is the recipe written somewhere that I can print out? I saw it on the video but wondered if it’s somewhere else? We made this the other night, exactly how you suggested with the ingredients you recommended. It was perfection!
No, just the video. But it sounds like that worked out for you?
I have these anchovies – they are in a big jar. Will they keep unrefrigerated? If refrigerated, the oil congeals.
Depends how fast you will use them, and also how hot your house is. I usually do end up putting them in the fridge, just to be on the safe side. Leaving them out for 10 minutes before you use them allows the oil to re-liquify.
Really nice recipe!
I`ve praiperd Aglio Olio for lunch today. But it was nearly tasteless… I did it the same way like in your recipe. But without the anchovy and peperoncino. I got no taste of the olive oil and garlic, but I always use high quality ingredients.
Spaghettini Pasta di Gragnano Pastificio Gentile (my favorite brand)
Frantoi Cutrera Primo BIO Olio Biologico
Fresh Garlic and Flat Leaf parsley…
and a bit of Pecorino Sardo stagionato
Fresh grated Tellycherry Pepper
Any tipps for doing it better next time? Should I use regular Spaghetti, the Spaghettini were really sticky so I needed a lot of pasta water to prevent that? A more bitter and rough olive oil? And maybe skip the grated cheese and only ad a few bigger flakes for variety in taste?
Greetings
I”m so sorry that you thought it turned out tasteless. One of the main ingredients is peperoncino, so that may have made a big difference. And of course the amount and quality of olive oil matters a lot. The spaghetti should not have been sticky though, especially when you added it back to the pan with the flavored oil. Did you use enough oil? And when you drained the pasta, did you put it directly back in the pan? You can certainly add cheese, but then it becomes another dish entirely.
Yes I put the spaghettini dirrctly in the pan so they were moist enough. But i added the oil just on the table not directly to the pan. I was scared that the pasta could be to hot and destroy all the flavor of the good Evo. Is this an unneccessary sorrow? No peperoncino, because i cant eat hot. For ammounts i used 170 gramms dried pasta and 35 cl olive oil is that enough? The oil is a sicilian strong frutty high qualitative oil. Maybe should i use a more rough evo, i thoughted of a tuscan or sardinian? Thank you for your help!
Best wishes
You didn’t saute the garlic in the olive oil? That is an essential step, and pouring the olive oil directly onto the pasta is not the same at all. So the garlic was basically raw?
No no I sauted the garlic just in little of the oil, so it was not raw. With the rest of the oil I have tossed the pasta. But quality of the garlic was bad.
If the garlic was bad, then there’s not much you can do about that. It sort of answers your own question about why it didn’t turn out I think.
Yes I think you’re right about the garlic. But there was also the lack of the olive oil flavor.
Hi Elizabeth. Can I order the peperoncini di fitalia through Amazon? I can’t find it. Thanks.
I doubt it! But you can use any sort of hot red pepper.
The post is missing the link to the IASA peperoncini, which are widely available online in the US. We order it by the case. And unlike the Sicilian version, the IASA peppers from Campania are in the most flavorful olive oil, which I love.
In fact the link was an old one and was no longer valid. But it still remains one of our favorite hot sauces. Sophie buys it by the case too!
Love your newsletter—-and especially following Sophie on Insta. She’s a good teacher for us beginners!
Thank you!