Linguini with Anchovies, Parsley and Capers

Sometimes you realize that you've lived near a major city for your whole life. Times like when you see an eggplant growing, and are surprised that it's actually purple. For some reason, I was pretty convinced they started out white. Like how some kids' eyes start out blue, and then turn darker. Anyway, turns out even baby eggplants are purple.

Here's the baby picture:

It's about the size of a large grape right now. Hopefully it'll make it out of infancy so I can eat it. While the garden incubates eggplant, it's turning out parsley in alarming quantities.

Hence, this quick and easy pasta features parsley. This is great for a weeknight, or any other time you're cooking from your pantry and have some fresh herbs to toss in the mix.

Linguini with Anchovies, Parsley and Capers

Ingredients:

1/2 lb linguini

8-10 anchovies in oil, oil reserved

1/4 onion, chopped

6 garlic cloves, finely minced

red pepper flakes

2 TB capers

1 TB caper juice

2 c chopped parsley

1TB lemon zest

freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Cook linguini, according to directions in salted water. Reserve 1c of cooking water, then drain, and set pasta aside.

In large skillet, heat anchovy oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes and sautee until soft. Turn heat to low-medium and add anchovies to skillet and sautee another 3-4 minutes, using spoon to break up the fish. Add capers, caper juice, and parsley and sautee for about a minute. Remove mixture from heat.

Combine anchovy mixture and pasta in skillet. Add pasta water as needed to achieve desired consistency. Stir in lemon zest. Season liberally with freshly ground pepper. Serves 4.

Spaghetti with Anchovies, Zucchini, Pine Nuts and Red Pepper Flakes

Do you ever have those days where you eat your lunch on the way to work? And you go to work at like 8:30? And you had breakfast already at like 7? Um, yeah, me neither. Today was definitely not like that...

I am not quite sure where the midieval-girl-will-eat-anything-not-affixed-to-surface hunger came from this morning, because we had a lovely dinner last night. Thursday nights seem to find me making pasta often, since it's so simple and comforting. A sign the weekend is almost there.

I ventured boldly into the world of tinned fish: anchovies. I was honestly surprised by what I found. They are boney little suckers! I reserved the oil, and then rinsed the fish thoroughly using a mesh strainer. I am not entirely sure if I should have tried to pick out all of the little splinter sized pieces of cartilage, but they seemed so thin, and I wanted to eat dinner before next week, so I said what the heck. We didn't notice them at all.

What do you do with your anchovies? I guess cartilage doesn't exactly melt, but they were undetectable. I will definitely cook with anchovies again-- they lent a lot of depth to the dish.

Spaghetti with Anchovies, Zucchini, Pine Nuts and Red Pepper Flakes

Ingredients:

6-7 anchovies, oil reserved, rinsed and picked over

1TB olive oil

2 zucchini, thinly sliced

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/4 c toasted pine nuts

2tsp lemon zest

1 tsp red pepper flakes

Salt and Pepper to taste

handful of Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped

1/2 lb spaghetti

Preparation:

Cook pasta according to directions, drain, and reserve 1c pasta water. Meanwhile, heat anchovy oil and olive oil in large skillet. Add anchovies, and saute over medium-low heat for about 3 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute over medium-low heat for another 3 minutes. When garlic is soft, add zucchini to skillet, and combine ingredients with spoon. Saute over medium heat until zucchini softens and becomes translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Season to taste.

Take mixture off of heat. Add pine nuts, parsley, lemon zest and cooked pasta to mixture in skillet. Combine thoroughly. Add cooking water as needed, until desired consistency is reached. Serves 4.