Fusilli with anchovies and cherry tomatoes

Fusilli are a durum wheat pasta typical of southern Italy, where it used to be prepared by women who specialised in twisting the dough into perfect coils. These trap the sauce between their spires, ensuring that every forkful is a delight for the palate.

INGREDIENTS

PREPARATION

GET THE INGREDIENTS READY

• Wash and cut the cherry tomatoes in half.
• Drain and mince the anchovies (ours came with red pepper flakes, but if you aren’t keen on the extra spice you can use plain ones); set the oil aside.
• Crush or finely slice the garlic.
• Shave the parmesan.
• Wash the fresh basil and get rid of the stems.

PREPARE THE SAUCE

The pesto

• Place the basil and the almonds in a blender with a few spoonfuls of olive oil: you can first crush the almonds by hand to go easy on your food processor’s blades. Simply place them inside a clean kitchen towel and the kitchen town on a chopping board, then hammer away. 
• Blend until you have a smooth paste.

*NOTES*

To blend the ingredients, you will need a larger amount of olive oil than what required for this dish, so your pesto will be quite oily. Drain it and bottle the extra green juice for future use as a condiment for pizza or other tomato based dishes.

We chose skin-on almonds for a fiber boost, but you can also dip them in boiling water for a few seconds and pop their skins. They will soften too, which will make it easier for the blender to crush them.

The tomato sauce

• Sauté the garlic for 30 seconds, using the oil leftover from the anchovies. 
• Add the tomatoes and cook on medium heat for five minutes.

Cook the fusilli

• Fill a pot with a few inches of water and a pinch of salt, then bring to the boil. You can do this before you start preparing the pesto.
• Tip your fusilli into the boiling water.
• Cook for 10 minutes or however long advised by the producer.
• Drain and transfer the pasta into the pan with the tomatoes and the pesto.
• Raise the heat for 30 seconds while you give the mixture a good stir.

SERVE & PAIR

Serve your dish

• Cover your fusilli with parmesan shavings and serve immediately. Shavings work better than grated cheese as you will want to keep the flavours separate, leaving to your teeth the job of blending them together.

Pair your dish with a white wine

• Pair with a white wine like Savignon Blanc or Vermentino. The grassy flavour of these cultivars complements the pesto’s green aromas.
• If you would rather focus on the tomato and parmesan combo, counter the saltiness of the latter with the sweet notes of a Gewurztraminer or Riesling from the Trentino Alto-Adige region.
• Alternatively, play up the vivaciousness of the dish by serving it with a fizzy wine like Prosecco. Even the red Lambrusco works well with this dish, but avoid full-bodied and tannic reds like Cabernet Savignon or Chianti.