How to make simple, attainable weeknight pasta
This riff on a Jamie Oliver recipe retains his simple sauce — a bright, briny number super-charged by anchovies and lemon juice — and his brilliant addition of peppery raw arugula.
The main differences are the proportions (more lemon juice, extra parmesan, and so much raw arugula that the dish becomes part salad), what’s left out (bye bye lemon zest and cooked arugula), and the method, which is modified to better serve scatterbrained home cooks.
First, I bring plenty of water to a boil in a large pot, then salt it so it tastes more like soup than sea. Next, I very much do not do what practically every recipe for pasta I’ve ever read or written advises, which is to submerge the pasta and then “meanwhile” make the saucy stuff.
What a lovely idea, this meanwhile, during which you saute sausage and raab or steam clams with white wine, the last shell popping open just as your linguine is ready. In reality, however, adding pasta to boiling water begins the ruthless countdown to al dente, and unless you’re an expert multitasker with a keen sense of timing, you’ll inevitably find yourself flat-footed and frantic at the moment of truth.
Instead, as the water heats up, I make the sauce. Only then — after the sauce is cooked — should you add the pasta to the boiling water.
The sauce accomplished, everything now rests on nailing the doneness of those noodles.
Once the pasta is in, give it a good stir, then maybe, maybe, do a couple simple tasks such as grating a mountain of parmesan and readying tongs (for long noodles) or a scooper dealie (for tubes, twists, et al.). These tools will spare you having to wash a colander and clean out the sink to make room for one. Otherwise you should do absolutely nothing else in the meanwhile but wait with the patience and focus of a cat stalking a small bird — podcasts off, children ignored. The daredevils among you will set a timer and go about your business.
When the noodles have been in a good five minutes less than the box predicts, you pounce, using the tongs or scooper to access one to appraise. Continue this sampling, first every minute then later every 13 seconds, until you have identified a state just short of what you’d like to eat. Then use your tool to move the noodles to the pan with the sauce, letting a little of the starchy, soup-salty water join for the trip. Reserve the rest of that water, not for the purposes of enabling emulsification but because gradually adding some can keep the saucy stuff saucy.
Finally, plate your pasta and, if parmesan is appropriate, add a ton.
Spaghetti With Anchovy, Lemon and Arugula
¼ cup olive oil
2 to 4 cloves garlic, thinly
sliced 1 (2-ounce) can oil-packed
anchovies, drained
½ to 1 teaspoon crushed red
pepper flakes
2 juicy lemons, halved,
divided use
Fine sea or table salt
1 pound dried spaghetti or
linguine
2 giant handfuls superpeppery arugula, preferably not baby arugula
2 ½ ounces to 3 ½ ounces coarsely grated parmesan cheese (up to 1 cup)
Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-low heat, combine the olive oil, garlic, anchovies and pepper flakes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is fragrant but not colored, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn off the heat, squeeze in the juice from 3 of the lemon halves and stir well, breaking up the anchovies if need be. Set aside.
Once the water comes to a boil, stir in enough salt to make it taste as salty as wellseasoned soup. Add the pasta, stir well and do absolutely nothing but stand beside the pot, stirring occasionally to keep it from clumping, until it’s just short of whatever texture you’d like to eat. Use the time estimate on the box of pasta as guidance, not gospel.
When the pasta is ready, use tongs to move it to the pan with the sauce, letting a little of the salty water come along, too. Toss well, gradually adding some of the salty water if necessary to keep things saucy, until combined. Taste and, if you want, add more lemon and/ or salt, though keep in mind you’ll be adding salty parmesan in a minute.
Remove from the heat and divide the pasta among the bowls. Add a sprinkling of the arugula and parmesan on top or on the side. Serve the remaining arugula and cheese in bowls on the side, so you can add more as you eat.
Makes 2 main or 5 side servings.