Pasta with anchovies: an all-Italian recipe of ancient origin

Pasta with anchovies is a simple dish, which together with many others represents the Italian tradition. This recipe can be considered historic, since its origins can be traced back to ancient times.

Pasta with anchovies: the legend and history of fish

The anchovy is therefore the protagonist of this tasty and tasty dish, and its name derives from the vulgar Latin "Apiuva “, but the scientific term comes from Greek and is called" engraulis encharsicolus”.
The origin of this bony marine fish belonging to the Engraulidae family is linked to a legend, according to which anchovies in ancient times were petulating stars, so obsessive as to annoy the moon. For this reason, God decided to punish them by throwing them to the bottom of the sea, where, however, they kept the silver color of the stars, but became silent forever, becoming the prey of man.

Anchovy fishing has been present since ancient times and the first writings concerning it relate to “Deipnosophistarum sive coema sapientum”, a book on food written by a certain university in the 2nd century AD that recalls the most common foods in Ancient Greece, where anchovies were eaten with peas and sea nettle.

However, it is thanks to a sauce that there is direct evidence of the processing of anchovies in Greece, Garon, which was later introduced during the Punic Wars in Rome and here called Garum. There are writings and recipe books that testify to the presence and use of this sauce to season fish, meat and many other dishes.
In this way, the anchovy acquires great economic importance, and its industry becomes a rich source of income.
During the Augusta period, the highest qualitative and quantitative production came from Spain.

Cantabrian anchovies

How can we not mention the very famous Cantabrian anchovies ! They are now famous worldwide and are one of Spain's gastronomic specialties, but not everyone knows that their origins are intertwined with Italian fishermen.

Until the end of the 19th century, however, these anchovies were not so important. Fishermen used them as bait to catch other fish.
In Italy, however, this fish was already very famous and in demand, to such an extent that the supply could not meet the demand. In addition, the Italians, especially the Sicilians, were experts in techniques for salting and preserving anchovies.

And it is thanks to the experience of Sicilian fishermen who emigrated to Cantabria in search of fish to market, that the Spanish learned how to fish and how to process anchovies, how to salt and preserve them.
Thanks to Italian fishermen, Santoña became the hub of a new economy.

Pasta with anchovies: an all-Italian recipe

The great economic importance of the anchovy market in Italy has undoubtedly led to the consumption of this fish in many recipes. One of the most famous is precisely that of pasta with anchovies!

The Sicilian recipe "spaghetti alla Siracusana “, also known as" fried pasta Syracuse style”, is very common. To create this dish, the garlic is sautéed with extra virgin olive oil and anchovies, while the spaghetti is cooked separately with plenty of salted water. Individually, the crumbs of dried bread, or ready-made breadcrumbs, are roasted in a pan. Finally, the pasta is creamed with the anchovies and covered with toasted crumbs.
In fact, during long periods of hunger, in the past there was the custom of mixing breadcrumbs with food to give a sense of satiety, so much so that it was often used instead of cheese to season pasta. This custom has passed into the present, even if the motivation is no longer, fortunately, the same: breadcrumbs give the dish a strong tone and a certain crunch, blending the flavors perfectly!

The best-known variant of this dish with strong flavors involves frying spaghetti. They can be cooked separately and then fried in a pan before creaming them with anchovies, or you can use leftover pasta, thus giving them a new texture.
Spaghetti alla Siracusana in some recipes also have tomatoes, whether in the fried or normal version. Some also add chilli pepper.

Another recipe for a fresh and tasty first course is the Neapolitan one of “Spaghetti with salted anchovies”, which instead of breadcrumbs, includes crumbled Neapolitan tarallo, and adds a bunch of fresh parsley, a real goodness!
Also worth trying is the same recipe, but with Cantabrian anchovies!

Even in the north, pasta with anchovies is very common, even if the preparation involves the use of sardine or herring, which despite its similar flavor, belongs to a different family, that of the Clupeids.
So we have the famous Venetian “Pasta e Renga” that adds diced potatoes in pasta water to the Sicilian recipe, and “Bigoli with sardines”, or bigoi with sardines, made with egg pasta, in fact, bigoli, and a sauce of sardines in salt.

Here are all the variants of pasta with anchovies, typical of various Italian areas. This dish is rich in flavors, but it is also a simple dish, given its “poor” origins. A dish that was born in the past, whose protagonist is a fish that has had a lot of importance in history, since ancient times, but which is also contemporary!
Today the recipe is widely spread and used, and to cook it we can indulge ourselves by creating many variations, depending on our tastes.
The positive side is that we can easily find the ingredient, for example in the selection of Spaghetti