Pasta with Capers and Anchovies

Jeff the Chef
"Pasta with Capers and Anchovies," from Make It Like a Man!

This dish comes together in about as much time as it takes to cook dried pasta. It’s simple, elegant, unusual, and delicious. It reminds me of a few of my favorite go-to weeknight pasta dishes: Fresh Garlic Parmesan Pasta, and Garlicky Brats and Pasta with Parmesan. Indeed, you could easily import any aspect of either of those recipes into this one with good results. Do you fear anchovies? Don’t. Their flavor melds into this dish and becomes a backdrop to the capers. It adds something that is such a faded reference to the sea, that you’ll wonder if it’s in your imagination. Yet, it lends “Pasta with Capers and Anchovies” a kind of sophistication that elevates its simplicity.

The steps involved in cooking the sauce are fast-paced, going from start to finish in perhaps five minutes or so. You absolutely must mise en place. Because you need pasta cooking water for the sauce, I suggest that you start with the pasta, and while the water’s heating up, do all your prep. Even so, if you see there’s a ton of time left before the pasta will be ready, you might want to hold off on the sauce for a few minutes. Ideally, by the time you’re ready to use some of the pasta cooking water in the sauce, you’ll be extracting water from pasta that is nearly finished.

What you need for 4 servings:

1 lb. pasta
⅓ cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic, peeled[a, b] and sliced
1 can (2 oz.) flat anchovy fillets, drained and coarsely chopped[c]
½ cup tiny[d] capers in brine, rinsed and drained
⅓ cup fresh Italian parsley
½ tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan, for garnish (optional)

How to do it:

  1. Cook the pasta to al dente, according to package directions.[e] Meanwhile, make the sauce.
  2. To make the sauce, start by heating the oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Add the anchovies;[f] continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the anchovies begin to break down significantly, at least 1 minute. Add the capers. Add ⅓ cup of the pasta cooking liquid and bring the mixture to a rapid boil. Add the parsley and cook, stirring occasionally, until the anchovies are completely broken down and dissolved into the sauce, a few minutes. (If the mixture begins to boil dry during this process, add another ⅓ cup of the pasta cooking liquid.)
  3. Strain the cooked pasta, and return it to the pot. Add the sauce (and the red pepper), and toss. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Serve immediately, (garnishing servings with freshly ground Parmesan).

Notes:

While working on this recipe, I discovered that there are indeed many sizes of capers. You can get really big ones, medium-sized ones (the ones I would consider “normal”), or tiny ones. The tiny ones will look best in this recipe. You’ll be surprised to find that a 3.5 oz. jar contains about 1/2 cup.

Regarding anchovies…

This recipe comes from “Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen,” by Lidia Bastianich. New York: Knopf, 2003; pg. 104. Lidia’s recipe calls for ¼ lb. of salt-packed anchovies, but they require skinning and deboning, and I wasn’t in an adventurous-enough mood to do that. Apparently, salt-packed anchovies have a firmer texture (which seems unnecessary, since you’re going to break them down in the sauce) and a more pronounced flavor (which might be quite interesting, although I have to admit to having more than a little fear of anything more pronounced in flavor that anchovies in olive oil.)

While working on this recipe, I discovered that, if you’re lucky to shop at a well-stocked store, there are several types of canned anchovies. The kind you want here are “flat.” It may say “flat” on the tin. What that means is that you’ll find individual fillets, laid flat, inside the tin. In some tins, the fillets are rolled around something like a caper.

The anchovies will cause the oil to spatter prodigiously. I suggest you immediately cover the pan with a spatter guard, and wait until the spattering has subsided at least to some degree before you start to stir.

On peeling garlic…

If you’re thinking of peeling your garlic one clove at a time, using your fingers, there are perhaps better ways. The best of them involves two bowls, which “Go Chef Yourself” so amusingly demonstrates.  However, as Chef John (of Food Wishes) proves, you don’t need to cut the garlic beforehand. Martha’s a bit better at this than you are, Chef John. Love her, hate her, she’s a genius. What’s so special about the bowls, though? Why not use a jar? Perhaps you need more space than a typical jar will allow? I don’t know. When in doubt, though, resort to power tools.

Two runner-up garlic peeling methods: first, Anil Mahato has a knife-centric garlic peeling that looks perfectly reasonable if not downright correct, but I’m sure I’d eventually slice my thumb open if this were my go-to method. Second, there is at least one way to peel garlic that requires no utensils at all, and yet doesn’t involve getting garlic under your fingernails. However, I wouldn’t recommend offering anyone a shoulder rub for at least a week afterward … although, I don’t know – something tells me I could get past that.

Pasta with Capers and Anchovies

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! Thank you, Kesor. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. In preparing this post, I discovered a guy who kills hornets with a make-shift flame thrower. Not only that, this same guy can make knives and arrow tips by smacking obsidian with an antler. When Trump fumbles his way into the apocalypse, your food cooking skills are going to be useless unless you’re best friends with a guy like this. I’m guessing you could meet him at the gym? 

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34 thoughts on “Pasta with Capers and Anchovies”

  1. Jeff, your post hit my inbox at the perfect time as I’m about halfway through Lidia’s memoirs (My American Dream) which is an uterly fascinating look into Lidia’s life. So, I’m cooking Wednesday evening and Pasta with caper and anchovies it shall be.
    On the subject of anchovies, I love them fresh, in oil and in salt; in pasta sauce, on pizza, or with a great Ceasar. I’ve never met an anchovy I didn’t like.
    Ron recently posted…Tunnbrödsrulle, a classic Swedish street food…

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    • What great timing! I loved her from the moment I first saw her cook. I swear, no matter what she makes, by the time she’s done, I’m drooling.

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  2. I had no idea there were so many ways to peel garlic! Now I feel like I need to experiment past the ‘bash it with a chef’s knife’ approach that I typically use. Also, this pasta sounds delicious! It reminds me that I haven’t used capers in forever. They were one of our go-to ingredients way back in Atlanta, but somehow they fell out of favor. I need to make up with them ASAP.
    David @ Spiced recently posted…Carrot Cake Muffins

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    • Right? Capers are amazing. I’ve never had anything with capers that I didn’t love. And btw, that is exactly how I peel garlic, too: smash it with the side of my knife. I guess after mentioning all those ways, I never got around to saying that I don’t use any of them. Hahah!

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    • Really? Cool! It’s kind of a new combo to me, and I really like it, too.

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  5. Elegant and unusual is my favorite — the more interesting the better. And anything with anchovies and capers is right up my alley. Delicious. I’m going to try this one for sure.

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    • It’s so easy to throw together on the fly. You’re going to love it.

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  8. This is one of my very favorite pasta dishes, Jeff! I love the intense flavors of the garlic, capers and most of all anchovies, which I can eat straight from the jar … Only difference is I usually use long pasta (spaghetti or linguine) and skip the cheese. And by the way, while I do agree that salt-packed anchovies are superior, even a stick in the mud traditionalist like myself often use olive-packed variety for convenience, too. There are some brands that are actually quite excellent. In fact, I just got a shipment from Agostino Recca and they’re out of this world delicious.
    Frank recently posted…Frittata di pane (Bread Frittata)

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  16. i never had only pasta in my life i always try to make a duo with pasta like pasta salad or mayonnaise with salad and this is what i need to make pasta with capers and anchovies. that sounds delicious to me

    Reply

    • I know what you mean. I was surprised to discover how delicious a simple dish like this can be.

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