This is a dish my dad used to make me as a kid. The first time I ate it, it blew my mind. It’s a perfect example of something so simple that can deliver so much flavour. It is absolutely one of my favourite things to eat and cook. It has just four main ingredients that are available in almost every shop and supermarket and takes less than 10 minutes to make, from start to finish.
I use linguine, but any pasta you have in the cupboard will do. The recipe can be made vegetarian by excluding the anchovies, but the idea with the anchovies is that they season the pasta, so no extra salt is needed. If you're making a vegetarian version, you'll need to add a little salt to it. For this recipe I'm using organic Irish purple sprouting broccoli, but any broccoli will do.
Keelan Higgs is head chef and co-owner of Michelin-starred Variety Jones restaurant in Dublin 8.
Linguine with anchovy, chilli, garlic and purple sprouting broccoli
Serves four
Ingredients
280g dried linguine (any pasta will do)
5 cloves of garlic (30g-ish)
2 red chillies (30g-ish)
1 small tin anchovies in oil
120g extra virgin olive oil
120g purple sprouting broccoli, chopped into same-size pieces
Black pepper
Parmesan
Method
1. Bring 2.5 litres of water to the boil in a medium sized pot, add one tablespoon of salt and throw the pasta in the water. It should take eight to 10 minutes to cook, so the plan is to make the sauce before the pasta is ready.
2. Roughly chop the chilli and garlic and mix with the anchovies and olive oil. Blend the ingredients together using a hand blender or Nutribullet. Pour the blended mix into a decent sized pan on a medium heat and lightly fry, just enough to allow the anchovies to melt.
3. Add 100ml of the pasta cooking water to the sauce and two or three good twists of black pepper. Taste the pasta and when it’s about one minute away from being ready, chop the broccoli into even pieces and add to the sauce. Turn the heat off and stir the broccoli around in the sauce. Strain the pasta and add it to the sauce with 20g grated Parmesan and another twist of black pepper. Serve immediately.
Kitchen Cabinet is a series of recipes from chefs who are members of Euro-Toques Ireland who have come together during the coronavirus outbreak to share some of the easy, tasty things that they like to cook and eat at home #ChefsAtHome
