spaghetti alio e olio pepperoncino; preceduto da speck

A remarkably delicious meal for one so simple and easy to put together, which was the reason for my picking it last night.

It’s a classic in our home, and there’s also this equally-classic version which skips the anchovies. But it seems I hadn’t served either in some time.

  • while the water for boiling 8 ounces of Afeltra spaghetti chitarra from Buon Italia was being readied in a large stainless pasta pot, 3 large garlic cloves, coarsely-chopped, were heated over a low-medium flame inside a large enameled cast iron pot until they had begun to soften and turn golden, after which 2 salted anchovies, rinsed thoroughly, filleted, and roughly chopped, were added and stirred until they had broken up, followed by part of a dried Sicilian pepperoncino from Buon Italia, crushed, a tablespoon or two of roughly-chopped parsley from Phillips Farm and about a quarter cup of the pasta cooking water, the mix then allowed to simmer and reduce slightly while the pasta finished cooking (to be removed from the pot after only about 4 minutes, while still a little chewy in the center), at which time the spaghetti was drained, tossed into the pot with the sauce, and, the heat turned up slightly, everything cooked, stirring, for another minute or two, then arranged in 2 shallow bowls, another tablespoon or two of parsley sprinkled on top of each

There had been an antipasto. I didn’t photograph it however because, still distracted by a bad cold, I hadn’t made it look pretty enough on the plates. This is what the Speck should have looked like, but it still tasted absolutely delicious.

  • three ounces of La Quercia’s always wonderful ‘Speck Americano’ from Whole Foods Market, drizzled with a very good olive oil (Alce Nero DOP ‘Terra di Bari Bitonto’, from Eataly), served with a lightly-dressed salad of purple lettuce from Norwich Meadows Farm combined with arugula from Lani’s Farm, accompanied by slices of Orwasher’s ‘Grain Bread’ (8 whole grains and honey) from the 23rd Street Saturday greenmarket