3 hours ago
5
“I make your coat-on almond biscuits most weeks,” a woman told me in the homeware department of John Lewis on Oxford Street, London, a few months ago. She went on to say that she also attaches the “coat-on” expression to any dish she gets going as soon as she walks through the door (and before 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 vegetables. As much as I wanted to keep the compliment to myself and not share it, I did remind her that I had borrowed the expression from Nigella Lawson and her book How to Eat, to which the woman replied: “What a generous food writer you are.” I thanked her back, complimented her on her blue jacket, then bounced all the way to the cash desk to pay for the dishcloths and potato peeler, and then all along Oxford Street.
If I ever see that woman again, I need to tell her that, since our meeting, I have also been attaching the prefix “coat-on” to various dishes and actions, not least boiling the kettle to jumpstart the water for coat-on spaghetti. Coincidentally, it is 20 years since I moved to Rome; 19 and a half years since Vincenzo and I first argued about how to cook pasta (him telling me I used too little water and salt, and took too much time; me telling him he was supercilious and boring); and 10 years since I first wrote about spaghetti for this column. Some things have changed, others have not (salt), and I now have a medium-sized repertoire of coat-on spaghettis.
The first of these speedy, coat-on favourites is spaghetti with a quick tomato, garlic and chilli sauce. It is described by a Neapolitan friend as a mix between a quick tomato sauce (AKA sciue sciue, pronounced “shway shway” and meaning “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 quick tomato, garlic and chilli sauce is not so much a sauce but a flavourful and fast coating for the thin strings of pasta. It is also a condiment in which the olive oil plays a fundamental role, so use the best you have, and don’t skimp.
I have suggested slicing the garlic, but if you want a milder flavour, crush the cloves so they break but remain whole. If you prefer a more intense flavour, chop the cloves, while, for the most intense flavour of all, squash the cloves with the side of a knife until they reduce to a paste.
The second coat-on recipe is a store-cupboard version of the Sicilian dish pasta con le sarde (pasta with sardines and wild fennel), which also showcases the power (culinary, biblical, or both) of tinned sardines: a small tin or two packs an intensely flavoured punch and goes a long way. If you can find fennel fronds or dill, great, otherwise parsley works well as the green herbal element. Again, what you are making here is not so much a sauce as a tasty condiment that coats the strands of spaghetti.
Spaghetti with quick tomato, garlic and chilli sauce
Tinned plum tomatoes help the “hurry”, of course, while fresh tomatoes require a little more time and peeling, otherwise, the skins curl into hard bits when the flesh is mashed to a soft pulp. Use your best-tasting olive oil – and don’t skimp: it is the essential ingredient.
Prep 5 min
Cook 10 min
Serves 4
Salt
450g spaghetti
6-8 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
3 whole, peeled plum tomatoes, tinned or fresh and peeled
1 tsp red chill flakes
1 handful basil leaves
Bring a pan of water to a boil, add some salt, then cook the spaghetti according to the packet instructions, until al dente.
Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, gently warm the olive oil and garlic, so the garlic becomes soft and fragrant, then add the tomatoes, chilli and a pinch of salt, and fry gently, mashing the tomatoes with the back of a fork or potato masher, so the flesh breaks down into a rustic sauce – this will take about four minutes on a lively heat. (If the sauce is ready before the pasta, pull the pan off the heat, then return it just before adding the spaghetti.)
Once the spaghetti is al dente, use a forked spoon or spider sieve to lift it directly into the tomato pan, complete with the residual cooking water clinging to it, then toss very vigorously, ripping in the basil leaves as you do so. Serve at once.
Spaghetti with tinned sardines, anchovy, capers, chilli and lemon
Try to find sardines packed in olive oil, in which case you can reduce the amount of olive oil listed below. The same rules apply to the garlic in this recipe as in the last, while the lemon zest is key – it is lifting and sharpening!
Prep 5 min
Cook 10 min
Serves 4
450g spaghetti
Salt
6 tbsp olive oil, or 3 tbsp if your sardines are packed in olive oil)
1 red onion, peeled and finely sliced
1 x 120g tin sardines, drained – if the sardines are packed in olive oil, save it for the sauce
2 anchovies
1 tbsp small capers
1 tsp red chilli flakes
1 handful minced parsley
Zest of 1 unwaxed lemon, plus a squeeze of juice
Bring a pan of water to a boil for the spaghetti, season with salt, then add the pasta and cook according to packet instructions, until al dente.
Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, gently warm the oil, including the olive oil from the sardine tin, if you’ve got that, then add the onion and a small pinch of salt, and cook until the onion turns soft and fragrant. Add the sardines, anchovies, capers and chilli, and fry gently, mashing the fish into a soft, oily mush with the back of a fork. (If the sauce is ready before the pasta, take it off the heat, then return to the flame just before adding the spaghetti.)
Once the spaghetti is al dente, use a forked spoon or spider sieve to lift it, complete with the residual cooking water clinging to it, directly into the sardine pan, and toss very vigorously, adding the parsley, lemon zest and a few drops of lemon juice to taste as you do so.
