To Me, You Are Perfect: 20Min Anchovy, Caper, & Olive Pantry Pasta
2nd in the series: Bombshell spaghetti recipe, plus - January in Italy - the best month!
Ciao friends!
Welcome to the best month of the year! It’s January. Yes, I said January! Everything slows down after the frenzy of holidays, routines return to normal, holiday decorations are boxed away leaving clean surfaces, and it’s my birthday month!
Because I love January and I love you all, it’s finally giveaway time! I’ve been teasing it and prepping it and now the box full of gorgeous made in Italy pasta things is finally ready. Look for the separate giveaway post and how to enter dropping tonight. (Eeeek! So excited!!)
But for now, on to our second the new series: healthy pantry pastas that Italians actually make. I repeat my mantra so you know how serious I am about this: Italians are food geniuses and the quick, healthy meals that they whip up from nearly nothing are legendary. Today’s pasta is one of my pantry pasta dreams.
Jump to the bottom for the recipe or stick around for a few tips and a mini tour of my week in Italy.
January in Italy
How’s your start to the year? I will admit that coming back to work was a bit of a shock to my system. If it was for you too, here’s a little Milan and Como armchair travel for you. I took the train to the Milan office this week, started getting psyched for the 2026 Olympics here in Lombardy, roasted a lot of veggies, and had nearly insatiable savory cravings for some unknown reason. I even swapped out my sweet breakfast brioche for mini prosciutto panini to go with my morning coffee.
“To me, you are perfect”
This is me, talking to an oil-dripping anchovy in my kitchen.
Yes, we are going THERE in a serious way. We are going to make an authentic Italian pasta in 20 minutes with a medley of super-classic Italian pantry ingredients.
This exquisite yet completely unfussy pasta sauce is based on extra virgin olive oil and melted anchovies, flavored with the inimitable perfume of sauteed garlic and the heat of pepperoncino if you like it spicy. Olives and capers round it out with a sweet tangy-ness.
This pasta is so many things. It’s like the perfect storm of pastas in a good way; many things coming together to make a pasta ‘da urlo’ meaning ‘knockout’ or literally, to scream.
Similar to our 1st pantry pasta, big tube pasta with tuna and tomato, whose special yet simple combination made a “tangy yet smooth tomato sauce taste buttery without any butter”, this week’s pantry pasta…
seamlessly melds the smooth umami of anchovies and garlic with tangy, fruity olives and capers to produce an addictive pasta you won’t be able to stop thinking about
I promise.
Tips
As with any simple recipe, the biggest tip is that the quality of the ingredients in everything. Choose good quality extra virgin olive oil, anchovies, and pasta.
Pasta Philosophy: In the tradition of other lightweight sauces like aglio olio, we're are coating delicate thin strands of pasta with a flavorful adherent sauce. I normally offer flexible suggestions for other pasta options, but for me, even linguine is too much pasta to sauce ratio. Spaghetti is ubiquitous in shops and the perfect pasta for this.
Scarpetta: have some bread on hand to soak up any remaining sauce in the bowl, in the Italian tradition of scooping up any remaining sauce with a hunk of bread, otherwise you will be tempted to lick the bowl directly and that will get messy.
Size: cut the olives and capers into small pieces to give them less weight so they stick all over the spaghetti.
Salt vs. vinegar capers: I prefer salt-packed capers and learned the hard way that rinsing them once is not enough. Now I rinse them about 5 times, even soaking them for a 5-15 minutes in a cup of water to remove the saltiness, leaving fruity, crunchy caper flavor. If they are vinegar-brine packed, follow the same process to remove the vinegar flavor.
Olives: I’ve made this pasta with all kinds of olives, even green olives. But I have to say that black olives bring a little more smoothness which fits this pasta best. That being said, it’s a pantry pasta, so I will opportunistically use whatever I’ve got in the cupboard or fridge. My favorite here is the small Taggiasca.
Tomatoes or passata: With a base of tangy tomatoes this combination of ingredients makes the famous sauce ‘puttanesca’ (deliciously shared by Giulia Scarpaleggia). But this isn’t that. Here, tomatoes are optional. I usually leave them out.
Pepperoncino: Sadly, I always leave out the spicy pepperoncino when we make it for the kids (and my partner, Giorgio!) But it is truly taste heaven either way.
Superfoods
Italy is a blessed land where the sun, soil, and sea intensify the delciousness of everything that grows here. Almost magically, ALL the flavor enhancing ingredients in this pasta sauce are also SUPERFOODS, rich with anti-oxidant properties, vitamins, omega 3 fatty acids that may be anti-inflammatory, prevent against cancer and increase cardiovascular and brain health. Boom. Here they are:
Olive oil 🫒
Anchovies 🐟
Garlic 🧄
Olives 🫒
Capers 🟢
Optional: Tomato 🍅
Optional: Pepperoncino 🌶️
Spaghetti alle Acciughe
I couldn’t find a recipe online that matched exactly how my Italian family makes this pasta, however it’s certainly a variation of “Anchovy Spaghetti” or Spaghetti alle Acciughe. The wonderful Giulia Scapeleggia makes hers in Tuscany with cherry tomatoes and Jo Candiano recently posted her family’s anchovy-loaded version with just garlic from Sicily! Do you make a version at your house? I’d love to know in the comments!
Note: If you’ve already made Seduce Me Broccoli Pasta or Orecchiette with Rapini, this sauce begins with the same flavorful anchovy base, so you’ve totally got this!
This is truly changes the way you’ll look at your pantry. It may never seen empty again if you have these few exquisite Italian cupboard staples!❤️
pst! Scroll to the very bottom to download recipe pdf!
Bombshell Spaghetti with Anchovies, Capers, and Olives
Spaghetti ‘da urlo’ con acciughe, caperi, e olive
FOR 4 PEOPLE
The ingredients
180ml / 12 Tbls good quality extra virgin olive oil (this is creating your sauce, so don’t skimp!)
12 anchovy filets packed in olive oil
1 clove of garlic, peeled and smashed with the flat side of a knife
OPTIONAL: 1 dried pepperoncino (little hot pepper, often left out for the kids, but for me when I’m alone, it’s mandatory!)
3 Tbl capers - rinsed of all salt, soaked for 5-15, rinse again 4 times
30-ish small black olives like Taggiasca, pitted - cut into small chunks. If using larger Kalamata olives, you can use half this amount.
OPTIONAL: 2 Tbl tomato passata or 3 small tomatoes cut up into quarters
400 g spaghetti
The method
1) Fill a big tall pot with water and salt and set on high heat stove burner. Taste the water to make sure it’s salty like the sea (and add more salt if needed).
2) Add all extra virgin olive oil to a wide saucepan/skillet on medium heat. Heat for a minute, then add the anchovies. As they heat, smash them to bits with a wooden spoon, melting them into the oil until they are in tiny pieces, being careful not to splash. The brownish color in the golden oil are the anchovy bits. (I’m not DROOLING, you’re drooling! So much yummy umami.)
3) As soon as the anchovies are melted, turn down the heat to low and add the garlic, capers, olives, and optional pepperoncino and passata or tomatoes if you’re adding them. STIR and then cover. Stay close and ensure this doesn’t burn.
4) As soon as the water boils, add the spaghetti and cook until package time recommends for al dente
6) When pasta is nearly done, remove the pepperoncino. If you don’t like eating garlic pieces, remove it now. (I love it and keep them in as a treat!)
7) Strain pasta and add directly to the anchovy olive oil pan. Stir until pasta is coated.
Divide your pasta into pasta bowls and enjoy!
Notes:
Salt: It’s important not to skimp. This salt is flavoring both your pasta and also your sauce in the form of pasta water.
Buon appetito!
x Lolly
This sounds really good. Don't know why I never thought of just throwing in anchovies like that before.
I double down with the anchovy enriched Sicilian breadcrumb topping!