This is the “Tomato-y, Shallot-y Pantry Pasta” from Alison Roman. We’re big fans of her outspoken attitude and dedication to an unfussy and flexible cooking style. So when her recipe for the tomato-y, shallot-y pasta you didn’t know you wanted made its first appearance in the New York Times, we couldn’t help but join the group of enthusiastic readers and give it a try. After all, it features one of our favorite pantry staples, tomato paste! We adapted the NYTimes recipe to the Gustiamo pantry and taste, which translates into a basic change: we like to toast the whole garlic cloves with the shallots to flavor the sauce. Then, we get rid of the garlic before the dish finishes cooking. Yes, we think that all you need is a kiss of garlic. For the final result, we couldn’t agree more with Alison: it’s “a deeply savory, very sticky, fiery neon-orange paste that I quickly realized I wanted in my life all the time, pasta or not. I did want to coat pasta in it, but I also wanted to smear it onto thick, oily toast, spoon it over my fried eggs, or drag roasted chicken through it. I wanted it in a jar kept in my fridge forever.”
*Photo by our friend Sasha Marx
Ingredients
SERVES: 4-5 people
TIME: 40 minutes
- Extra virgin olive oil, 3 tablespoons
- Shallots, 6, very thinly sliced
- Garlic cloves, 4, lightly crushed
- Anchovies, 5 (10 fillets), rinsed and deboned
- Chili peppers in extra virgin olive oil, 1 teaspoon
- Tomato concentrate, 4 tablespoons
- Sea salt, to taste
- Black pepper
- Bucatini Faella, 1 bag (500 gr/ 1.1 lbs)
- Fresh parsley or basil
Preparation
- In a heavy-bottomed pan, heat extra virgin olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Add thinly sliced shallots and crushed garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots have become totally softened and caramelized (about 15 minutes).
- Reduce heat to medium-low, add chili peppers and anchovies. Stir to melt the anchovies into the shallots (about 2 minutes).
- Add tomato concentrate and season with black pepper. Cook, stirring constantly to avoid any scorching, for about 3 minutes. Discard the garlic cloves and remove the pan from heat.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook bucatini more al dente than usual (5/6 minutes).
- Drain bucatini, saving 2 cups of cooking pasta water. Return pan to the flame, toss bucatini and 1 cup of pasta water. Sauté over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes, so that the sauce coats bucatini completely and reaches a sticky consistency. If needed, add some pasta water (one teaspoon at a time).
- Serve immediately, topping each plate with chopped fresh parsley and/or basil.