Linguine with Artichoke & Anchovy

Summer... it is not easy to keep up your appetite when hot weather continues for weeks. To boost your appetite, I recommend foods from regions with warm to hot weather. Southeastern Asian, southern Indian, the Mediterranean, or southern Italian cuisines... There is something special about these foods. Is it the spiciness? Or saltiness? I am not sure, but those foods are definitely better suited for the hot summer days.

Inspired by the Mediterranean/Italian ingredients, such as anchovy, artichoke, caper, and garlic, I made today's pasta dish. To simplify the cooking process I used jarred artichokes, instead of fresh ones. Although jarred artichoke doesn't have the fresh texture and flavor compared to fresh one, it can make your life much easier.

Hope you can enjoy today's quick and easy, but tasty and refreshing summer pasta!


Linguine with Artichoke & Anchovy
(Yield: 2 servings / Cooking time: 20 minutes)

Ingredients:

+ 170g linguine (85g per serving) + 2 cloves of garlic + 2 fillets of anchovy in oil + 5-6 jarred baby artichoke hearts + 1 Tbsp caper + 1 Tbsp panko bread crumbs

+ 1 Tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley (Italian parsley) + olive oil + neutral oil (e.g. canola oil or grapeseed oil) + salt and pepper + (optional) lemon

Procedures:
1. First, boil a big pot of water to cook pasta.

2. Prepare each ingredient as followings.
+ Artichoke hearts: Drain marinate water and rinse lightly, and remove excessive salt. Cut the baby artichoke hearts in half or quarter.
+ Anchovy: Soak anchovy fillets in a water for 10 minutes to remove excess salt, and clean them by scrapping the bones with a paring knife.
+ Garlic: Peel garlic cloves and thinly slice them.
+ Caper: Rinse the capers with running water to remove saltiness. Pat them dry with paper towel.
+ Parsley: Wash, pat them dry, and chop finely.

3. In a pan, heat about 1tsp of olive oil and 1tsp of neutral oil (or you can just use 2 tsp of butter), and add panko bread crumbs to the hot oil. Lightly brown the bread crumbs over low-medium heat. Place the browned bread crumbs on paper towel to absorb excess oil. When the bread crumbs have cooled, season the bread crumbs with some salt and mix with chopped parsley.


4. Wipe the pan from #3, and add some neutral oil. When the oil is heated hot, add caper. It is almost like frying the caper. Caper will pop like popcorn and fry crispy. Drain on paper towel.


5. The water for pasta must be boiling rapidly by now. Add enough salt to the boiling water and cook linguine (or spaghetti) to al dente(slightly undercook). While the pasta is cooking, prepare the sauce... (next steps).


6. Drizzle about 1 Tbsp of olive oil over a pan. Over a low heat, add anchovy and garlic slices. Stir frequently over low heat until the anchovy has disintegrated, and the garlic slices are cooked but not browned.


7. Add prepared baby artichoke hearts to the pan and cook just until they are heated. Turn off the heat. (Since the jarred baby artichoke hearts were cooked already, you don't need much time.)


8. The pasta should be cooked by now. Transfer the pasta to #7 directly with a tong. Over medium heat, mix the pasta well to coat with anchovy sauce. Season with enough freshly ground black pepper. I don't think you will need to add more salt since anchovy is salty enough and pasta is cooked in salty water. If the pasta look too dry, add 1 or 2 spoons of pasta water.


9. Transfer the linguine to pasta bowls. Top the linguine with fried capers and seasoned bread crumbs. If you like more refreshing taste, squeeze some lemon juice and sprinkle lemon zest on top as well.


Enjoy~