Bigoli in Salsa

Thick wholemeal pasta with a sauce of onions cooked to nothing and anchovies melted into them.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 400 g bigoli, or thick wholewheat spaghetti
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 large onions, sliced as thinly as you can
• 12 salted anchovy fillets, rinsed
• 100 ml water
• 1 tablespoon salt, for the pasta water
• black pepper

Method

1. Slice the onions paper thin. They are the body of this sauce and there is nothing else in it — no tomato, no garlic, no herbs — so how finely they are cut decides the texture.
2. Cook them in the oil over the lowest heat for 45 MINUTES, with the water added a splash at a time whenever the pan looks dry. They must collapse to a pale jam without browning. Browned onions make a sweet sauce; this one is meant to be savoury and almost grey.
3. Add the anchovies and stir until they dissolve completely, about 5 minutes. No piece should remain.
4. Boil the bigoli in well-salted water until just tender, keeping a cup of the water.
5. Toss the pasta through the sauce with a splash of the water so it loosens and coats.
6. Grind black pepper over. No cheese: it would bury the anchovy, which is the only other thing in the bowl.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes