I find myself alone for dinner tonight while my wife is out celebrating her friend's birthday (Happy Birthday Vy!), so I thought that it would be a perfect opportunity to cook another blog post. After getting in to the kitchen at work this morning at 5 AM and leaving at four in the afternoon, I didn't really have it in me to delve into a drawn out recipe, but I know there has to be something savory in this cookbook that I could make for a quick supper tonight. As I've said before, when in doubt turn to the pasta chapter.
I've been sweating a good plate of pasta for two weeks now, and having good luck in the past with Mario's pasta recipes, I knew that I was in good hands with whatever I chose. Which brings me to this next post.
This penne recipe is quick, simple, cheap to make, has only a few ingredients, and as Mario points out in the recipe notes, there is a wonderful harmony between the sweetness of the squash and the brine of the anchovies. It wouldn't be the first time that I have made a pasta that combines vegetables and anchovies. I once worked at an Italian restaurant where we used to make a killer puttanesca sauce.
What I have come to love about the Italian way of cooking, though, is the simplicity behind every dish. Bold flavors through the use of superior product versus some flashy technique is quickly becoming my new mantra. But is this recipe perhaps a little bit too simple? I couldn't wait to find out.
My first order of business is to check my recipe mise en place to see what needs to be prepped. Because this is such a fast moving recipe, I won't want to prep any of the ingredients on the fly. So I finely chop some red onion, thinly slice garlic, I dice some butternut squash, and chop some flat leaf parsley.
I will also need to soak some anchovy fillets in milk for about 20 minutes and then rinse and drain them well prior to starting the recipe.
I'm now ready to start cooking. I bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta. Then in a sauté pan I heat some extra-virgin olive oil and add the onion, garlic, and anchovies to the pan. I cook this mixture over medium heat until the onion and garlic are softened and the anchovies have started to break apart.
Once at that stage I'm now ready to toss in the butternut squash. I raise the heat up a little bit to get some caramelization on the squash.
While this is working I add my penne to the boiling water. I'm sure all of you out there have your favorite brand of pasta, but mine is Barilla all the way!
Once the penne is cooked to al dente, I add it to the sauté pan and toss with a little more extra-virgin olive oil and the flat leaf parsley.
The pasta is seasoned with salt and pepper and then plated. Once plated I sprinkle some fresh toasted breadcrumbs over the top of the pasta.
That's really all there is to it. This was another solid recipe and an overall tasty meal. I highly doubt that this is something that would pop up on a Michelin-starred restaurant like Babbo. This is probably something that you would see in a less formal Trattoria in Italy, perhaps for lunch paired with 'a powerful young southern Italian red wine' as Mario suggests. Regardless of when and where you eat this, you won't be disappointed, but I also don't feel that you will be overwhelmed either. Like I said, it's a really simple dish and the addition of the anchovies are a 'love it or hate it' dealbreaker for those would consider eating this.
I can't believe that there's only a few weeks left of the year. I should be able to knock out at least one more recipe for this month in between all of the Christmas shopping, gift wrapping, and craziness at work. Until next time...
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