Day 63: a (very) pleasant fridge-forage surprise
One would have thought that perhaps by now the novelty of my discovery of this powerhouse ingredient would have worn off. Okay, you may be fed up with listening to me tirelessly rant on about them, over and over again, to the point you’re just thinking to yourself ”Okay. We get it. They’re good. Move on”. But, each time I cook something different with them in this cookalong they remain a novelty, to me. For this reason, I am sorry to say, I unapologetically refuse to move on.
We get through at least one jar of anchovies every week; using them both in Nigella recipes and concoctions of my own devising. I really do feel that they are often the solution to the “it’s missing something” dilemma that plagues so many cooks. Okay, they probably aren’t the missing ingredient to an ice cream that you can’t get right - although I vaguely recall the request of clam-flavoured ice cream by an expecting Peggy, from the 80’s tv show Married with Children, to fulfil her pregnancy cravings - but, they will add pizzazz to all kinds of pasta dishes and stews.
For dinner tonight, I had intended to throw the pickings of a fridge-forage into a pan and hope for the best, and it was during this forage that I took out an onion and a jar half full of anchovies (an already divine combination alone). For the record: when it comes to anchovies the jar is always half full, unless you look at it from a pre-shop perspective then it is definitely half empty, thereby justifying the purchase of another. I then saw milk in the fridge door and immediately recalled Nigella’s Pasta with Anchovies and Onion; it was fresh on my mind as I think only recently it was one of her #RecipeoOfTheDay posts.
Nigella’s Pasta with Onions and Anchovies
For the flavour this sauce gives you, you would not think it was so easy to cook. By easy I don’t necessarily mean quick and rushed, I mean it’s straight forward and you can focus on prepping and cooking with a happy smile on your face in anticipation of the good things to come.
I halved the recipe to feed two as a main so my miniature electric chopping aide was of adequate size for a single onion, and I was super-cautious when softening the onions into their honeyed-state; I have many times lost patience and ended up with browned, crispy onions (suitable for burgers and hot dogs but not the smoothness required here). With the milk and ground cloves added, the smell put me in mind of Christmastime: making fresh bread sauce with a clove-studded onion poaching in simmering milk. I had a cheeky taste of the sauce, before tumbling it through the pasta, and it just made me bounce with joy. I then proceeded to apply sauce to pasta along with a generous handful of chopped parsley and some wild garlic, which I had been inspired to use after seeing it all over social media (makes sense: it is in season). Funnily enough, only a few days ago we uprooted some from my Mum’s garden (with consent) so I now had some on hand in our garden.
Flavour musings
I am so happy to be enjoying new food. That is really all I can say. And this pasta really is quite incredible: a bowl of buttery, honeyed, allium sweetness with the depth of umami and the saltiness of the ocean; Nigella’s Pasta with Onions and Anchovies was the best fridge-forage surprise I could have ever hoped for.
While eating with very happy and grateful smiles, we both said - more or less at the same time - how we could just imagine enjoying this pasta in a local, family-owned, cobble-side restaurant in Italy with a carafe (or two) of wine, to boot. Followed by a late-night gelato on the stroll back to the hotel/apartment.
