This recipe comes from my 86-year-old grandmother, a northern Italian from Faenza, who picked it up during her travels as a piano teacher in southern Italy. I've watched her make it my whole life and know the recipe from memory.
Ingredients
Serves 4 to 6
Step 1
Preheat oven to 400°F, and put the water for the pasta on to boil (be sure to salt the water with a couple of heaping spoonfuls of salt).
Step 2
Slice tomatoes in 1/4-inch thick slices. (If they are Romas, it's best to slice lengthwise, whereas a rotund beefsteak tomato should be sliced horizontally, parallel with its equator. The idea is to maximize surface area.)
Step 3
Cut enough slices to cover the bottom of an oven-proof skillet (cast iron is preferable but anything oven-proof and no larger than 10 inches in diameter will do), without overlapping. Sprinkle a pinch of red pepper flakes, a dash of salt, a dash of pepper and about one quarter to one third of your anchovies on this first layer. Repeat the tomato layering and spicing until you run out of tomatoes. The idea is to make sure you are distributing anchovies and spices evenly.
Step 4
Pour olive oil on top of the layered tomatoes. Reduce oven to 375°F, and bake for 20 minutes. At the 15 minute mark, it's safe to put your pasta on to boil.
Step 5
The tomatoes are ready when the oil has visibly risen and is boiling. The tomatoes on top should appear somewhat shriveled, perhaps even a bit browned. If the tomatoes get to this point before your pasta is ready, it's fine to turn off the oven and let the skillet keep warm inside.
Step 6
When the pasta is al dente, drain and transfer it to a large bowl. Add the tomatoes and toss with fresh Italian parsely and grated cheese. Do not be thrown by the puddle at the bottom of the bowl. It is a very wet sauce that requires thorough tossing and constant grabbing of goodies from the bottom of the bowl with each plate served.
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Reviews (13)
Back to TopA really good and novel way to cook pasta. I too like several other reviewers found it necessary to cook the pasta for about 40 minutes and to increase the temp to 400 degrees. I too used an entire can of anchovies as the can does contain around 12-14 fish. Next time I'll follow the suggestion of adding a few cloves of garlic and maybe some basil.
si_chef
Oak Park, California
3/31/2009
I love this dish - I make it with a few modifications, though - i add garlic powder, dried basil and fresh mozzerella to the layers, and it comes out better every time. It's so easy to make, so delicious and so inexpensive.
Anonymous
New York
1/8/2004
As usual, I changed up this recipe quite a bit to reflect what was in my cupboards and fridge. Here's what I had that was a totally delicious variation: small sweet organic cherry tomatos, halved. Chopped garlic. Orechiette pasta by De Cecco (like thick pasta saucers). Chili paste from a thai take-out place. Regular curly parsley. I think the rest was by the recipe. I had less liquid because of the small tomatoes. This pasta was a big hit, and great even heated as leftovers.
Anonymous
Seattle, WA
6/20/2003
I took some of the comments to heart and added garlic and basil, plus extra anchovies, and then cooked it for 40 minutes, instead of 15-20. It was absolutely wonderful. This dish has become a favorite.
Anonymous
Austin, Texas
6/13/2003
It was so easy, I will absolutely make this again. I loved the subtle flavor of the anchovies, I wouldn't add any more, but I will reduce the crushed red pepper that I use next time. I sprinkled it between every tomato layer, and that was too much.
Anonymous
Durham, NC
2/14/2003
This was fantastic. I love dishes that are simple to make but taste complicated! I added garlic (4 cloves, minced) and can't imagine the dish without it! You also need some nice crusty bread to sop up the sauce at the bottom of your place! Definitely one of my best summer time recipes ever! Thanks!
Anonymous
Toronto, Canada
8/6/2002
Very good, and even tho I added some crushed garlic and dried basil, it still lacked something; not sure what. I also think it needs more taste, perhaps more anchovies? I used two cans. Maybe the cans I used were not large enough? They sort of disintegrated. Next time I'll use more seasonings and use fresh basil instead of the parsley.
Carol Bunagan
Originally Boston; currently Henderson, NV
5/30/2002
What a novel way to make a tomato sauce. I confess, though, that I cheated, and added a clove of garlic. I made it with penne and mostacholli, and look forward to trying other pastas,as well.
Anonymous
Burgess, VA
8/21/2001
Very simple, very good. I added some crushed garlic and a little basil. Maybe some feta next time ... yum!
Anonymous
Vancouver, BC
7/23/2001
Wonderful flavour. Keeping in mind Phil's experience, I kept a close eye on how the tomatoes were cooking down. I did need to put the oven temp. back up to 400 and increase the time to about 30-35 minutes. I suspect that, if I had a cast iron pan, these steps would have been unnecessary.
Anonymous
Sacramento CA
3/27/2001
Silician here...and my mother fixed this dish to my fathers delite,quite often! It's almost identicle to my mothers recipe. We enjoyed this version of it. Nice to see it on paper and will serve this often...I never got this close to her recipe...thank you Anonymous
Lancaster,Ca
12/21/1999
This has quickly become a classic in my home. I use one whole tin of anchovies and less rather than more oil -- 1/4 to 1/3 cup max. I also like the conversational tone the recipe is written in.
Anonymous
New Milford, NJ
6/11/1999
I followed this recipe exactly and found it very disappointing. Besides not having a lot of flavor, it was too spicy (hot) for my guests, and the tomatoes didn't cook dow like they were supposed to so it wasn't very saucy.
Phil
Vancouver, B.C.
5/8/1999
