Cavolo Nero & Anchovy Pasta with Breadcrumbs

This classic Italian dish combines the hearty texture of orecchiette pasta with the bold flavours of cavolo nero, anchovies and crispy breadcrumbs or pangrattato. Pangrattato are crispy breadcrumbs, flavoured here with parsley and garlic - perfect for scattering over pasta, plus using up stale bread if you make your own breadcrumbs. Recipe adapted from Irresistibly Italian, by the Alberti Twins.

Start your shop...

Pick which supermarket you want to send your ingredients to:

Ingredients

garlic cloves 3 (crushed)
fresh parsley 1 tbsp (chopped)
breadcrumbs 4 tbsp
orecchiette 300 g
cavolo nero 200 g (chopped)
anchovies in oil 4 (chopped)
mixed chillies 1
lemon 1 (zest)

Method

Make pangrattato

Peel and crush the garlic. You will use 1 clove for the pangrattato. Chop the parsley.
Heat a dash of oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add 1 of the crushed garlic cloves and cook for 1 minute.
Add the breadcrumbs and stir frequently until they’re golden brown and crispy, around 3-5 minutes. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cook the pasta & sauce

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Drain when cooked and reserve some of the pasta cooking water for step 8.
Remove the coarse stem from the cavolo nero, then finely chop the leaves. Chop the anchovies. Finely chop the chilli. Zest the lemon.
Heat a dash of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the anchovies and cook for 2-3 minutes until they dissolve. Add the rest of the garlic and chilli and cook for 1 minute.
Stir in the cavolo nero and cook until wilted and tender, 5-7 minutes. You may need to add a splash of pasta cooking water to prevent it from sticking. Stir in the lemon zest and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add the pasta to the pan and mix well, if it seems dry, add some more reserved pasta water to create a luscious coating.

Plate Up

Plate up the pasta into bowls and scatter over the pangrattato. Enjoy!

More recipes like this...