Spaghetti with Cetara Anchovy Colatura

La storia di questo piatto

In Cetara, a fishing village folded into the cliffs of the Amalfi Coast, anchovies have been salted and pressed for generations, and their amber liquor, the colatura, is the village's quiet pride. This dish asks nothing more of it than to stand almost alone beside a few strands of spaghetti, garlic, chili and parsley.

Ingredienti

• 400 g Quality spaghetti
• 3 tablespoons Colatura di alici di Cetara (Cetara anchovy liquor)
• 2 cloves Fresh garlic
• 1 pc Fresh or dried red chili pepper
• 6 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil
• 15 g Fresh parsley
• 1 pc Organic lemon zest (Amalfi Coast variant, optional)
• 14 g Sea salt (for the cooking water only)

Preparazione

1. Bring 4 liters of water to a boil in a large pot: this will take about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the dressing.
2. In a wide skillet (large enough to hold all the pasta later), pour in the extra virgin olive oil and add the crushed garlic cloves with their skins lightly scored and the broken chili pepper. Warm over low heat for 3–4 minutes, until the garlic is just golden and fragrant. Remove the garlic, turn off the heat, and let the oil cool slightly for a minute.
3. When the water boils, salt it with 14 g of sea salt (about 3.5 g per liter: little, since the colatura is already very salty) and cook the spaghetti al dente, draining them 1 minute before the time indicated on the package (roughly 8–10 minutes). Before draining, set aside a cup of cooking water.
4. With the heat off, pour 3 tablespoons of colatura di alici into the skillet with the oil and stir to combine. Do not return it to the heat: strong heat would ruin its aroma.
5. Drain the spaghetti while still very hot and transfer them immediately to the skillet with the dressing. Add a ladleful of cooking water and toss vigorously for 1 minute: the starch binds the oil and colatura into a glossy cream that coats the pasta.
6. Finish with the chopped parsley. The traditional recipe from Cetara calls only for garlic, chili, parsley, oil and colatura, without lemon. The lemon zest is an optional Amalfi Coast variant: if you like it, grate just a little over the finished dish; never use the juice, which would raise the acidity and mask the colatura. Taste: if needed, add the fourth tablespoon of colatura to taste, or dilute with more cooking water if the saltiness is too pronounced; do not add salt. Serve immediately.