Tuesday, October 19, 2010

dinner date - spaghetti with crispy crumbs

This is one of our favourite standby dinners. Quick and easy and really delicious. Spaghetti tossed with crispy bacon, sliced semi dried tomatoes, roughly chopped Italian parsley, baby spinach leaves, freshly grated parmesan and the best part, crispy, garlicky breadcrumbs. These crumbs give the pasta the most amazing texture, and really make this dish.

To cook the crumbs, just heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan. Add a few sliced garlic cloves and cook gently, you don't want it to fry and burn, it's more about allowing time for the garlicky flavour to mellow and blend into the oil. Add a cup or two of coarse fresh (homemade) breadcrumbs and toss to coat in the oil, stir them regularly over a low heat until they turn golden and crispy.

It's lovely too if you add a couple of anchovies with the garlic too, smushing them up into the oil; they don't taste at all fishy, rather they add another layer of savoury saltiness. These crumbs are spectacular over pasta with finely chopped broccoli, lemon zest, a little chopped red chilli and some grated parmesan.

3 comments:

  1. i agree love the crunchy crumb option, my little italian neighbour gregorio told me in italy they used to do that when they couldn't afford parmesan... its delish

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  2. Gosh that sounds delish! I think I am definitely going to try making that when am home after exams!

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  3. Yummy, I love a crispy topping on Mac n Cheese or Cauliflower cheese, this just sounds so good I cant wait to give it a go, clever:)

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