The recipe
Ingredients
- 180 g spaghetti
- 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes
- 50 g pitted dark olives, drained
- 10 g capers, drained
- 3 small oil-packed anchovy fillets, about 12 g drained
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small pinch of chilli flakes
- 1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
- Salt as needed
Method
- Halve the olives and check for stones. Rinse or desalt the capers according to their packaging if needed. Finely chop the anchovies and thinly slice the garlic.
- Gently warm the oil, garlic and chilli for about one minute. Add the anchovies and stir briefly until they break down.
- Add the tomatoes and simmer gently, uncovered, for around fifteen minutes. Add the olives and capers during the final five minutes.
- Cook the spaghetti in lightly salted water until just short of your preferred bite. Reserve a cup of cooking water before draining.
- Toss the pasta with the sauce and an initial two tablespoons of cooking water for about one minute. Add a little more water if needed.
- Turn off the heat, fold in the parsley and check the salt with a forkful of pasta. Serve immediately.
Prepare the salty ingredients first
For two servings, use 180 g spaghetti, 50 g pitted dark olives and 10 g small capers. The quantities refer to drained weights. Halve the olives, which also helps you spot any remaining stones. Briefly rinse capers in brine if needed; salt-packed capers require more thorough desalting according to their packet. Their intensity helps determine how much additional salt the sauce will need later.
Finely chop three small oil-packed anchovy fillets, weighing roughly 12 g together. They largely break down as they warm gently in the sauce and add savoury flavour. Choose anchovy fillets from a jar or tin rather than fresh whole fish. This version contains fish. For a version without anchovies, leave them out and season again at the end; the flavour will change. There is no automatic need to replace them with a large additional quantity of capers.
Reduce the sauce and finish with the spaghetti
Warm one thinly sliced garlic clove in two tablespoons of olive oil with a small pinch of chilli flakes. After about a minute, add the anchovies. Stir briefly over moderate heat until they break down, then add 400 g chopped tomatoes. Simmer gently, uncovered, for approximately fifteen minutes. Add the olives and capers for the final five minutes. Avoid frying the garlic until dark during this process.
Cook the spaghetti just short of your preferred bite and reserve some cooking water. Toss it with the sauce and an initial two tablespoons of cooking water for about one minute. The sauce should taste lively and savoury without becoming a salty paste. Taste a forkful of pasta before deciding whether more salt is needed. Turn off the heat and fold in one tablespoon of chopped parsley. Serve straight from the pan, since the long strands continue absorbing liquid while they wait.