Reviewed: Nov. 10, 2009

I can't believe I never reviewed this--it's one of my go-to quick dinners. It's a delicious, savory, simple dish. I brown the breadcrumbs in olive oil and set them aside; then I warm the anchovies and garlic and some red pepper flakes in olive oil. I save about a half cup of the pasta-cooking water and add that to the anchovy mixture, toss that with the pasta, then mix in the breadcrumbs and top with cheese.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
0 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Doughgirl8

Cooking Level: Professional

Home Town: Northfield, Minnesota, USA

Living In: Seattle, Washington, USA

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Aug. 29, 2009

My mother also makes this every year for our Christmas Eve dinner...an Italian tradition I suppose. It is fantastic and only in my adult years have I started making it year round to enjoy! I use a lot more olive oil (about twice as much per pound of pasta) no parsely and no bread. Just anchovies, garlic, olive oil, and lots of black pepper. My family calls it, no idea on how to spell it...sounds like: Ol-yew-eel!

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
1 user found this review helpful

Reviewer:

A.Toruno

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Aug. 16, 2009

This is very quick to make, and exceedingly tasty. The first time I made this, it was way too salty. I suggest you rinse the anchovies. (Maybe everybody knows to do this but me?) The second time, besides rinsing the anchovies, I used fettucine, added the suggested lemon juice, a splash of white wine and used Asiago cheese - my favorite. The dressing for the noodles is dry, but it is supposed to be. I liked my changes and will keep them and I will definitely make this again. Thanks!

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
0 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

WILFAM

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Owosso, Michigan, USA

Living In: Jersey Village, Texas, USA

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Mar. 16, 2009

I made this recipe with a little extra olive oil and a splash of lemon juice, and it was delicious! My husband and I both had seconds. I definitely think the lemon juice makes a huge difference.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
0 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Geek in the Pink

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Living In: Austin, Texas, USA

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Jan. 27, 2009

i love pasta and i love anchovies, and adding garlic to the mix makes this a very tasty,enjoyable,and did i mention quick, recipe.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
0 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

love2eat

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Jan. 16, 2009

Delicious. I love the salty anchovies, so I would use less noodles (or double the "sauce") so that the spaghetti had more of a coating. I used panko and liked the crunch it added to the texture. Delicious and easy.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
0 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

MYMY800

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Dec. 31, 2008

Very easy, excellent for emergency when something needed ASAP.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
0 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Anna

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Dec. 8, 2008

Tried this for dinner tonight, and I was really disappointed with it... I hate to give bad reviews when people are sharing their special recipes, but yuck. Very difficult to get the bread crumb mixture to cover the pasta, and when I added a touch more liquid it turned to even more of a gluey mass... My husband actually refused to finish this, a first... and asked that I not make it again. I might try to fix the leftovers with some drained diced tomatoes to add some flavor, as this was bland and salty. Really bummed me out, cause I love anchovies and pasta, and was looking for something that wasn't a thick heavy tomato sauce. I'll have to keep looking, as this was not good.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
1 user found this review helpful

Reviewer:

rosyshell

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Oct. 21, 2008

maybe I dont like anchovies after all? This was not good to me. Will not be making it again.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
0 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

leshia

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Sep. 26, 2008

My family of picky eaters loved this!! I served it as a meal...not just an appetizer as some did. My picky children and bf loved it! Didn't even tell them about the anchovies until dinner was over!! Added extra oil right after tossing with linguine-delish!!

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
2 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Pancakes In Bruges

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Sep. 19, 2008

We didn't change a thing when we made this. Don't think of it as a sauce. It's more like super-breadcrumbs that get mixed in with dry pasta. It is a different flavor, but fabulous. Also really easy to make.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
2 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Math Ninja

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Garden City, Kansas, USA

Living In: Manhattan, Kansas, USA

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Sep. 14, 2008

I wasn't sure the kids would like this type of pasta but they loved it! I made it exactly the way the recipe stated. In the end I would recommend adding about 1/4 cup more oil to the pan. And right before tossing everything together about 1/4 stick of butter to the noodles to help stick the sauce to the noodles. Remember don't rinse the pasta. Very good!

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
1 user found this review helpful

Reviewer:

tlpinter

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, USA

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Sep. 4, 2008

Delicious! I made this with the other reviews in mind, it is a dry pasta. I didn't mind that at all. Not at all fishy, can barely tell there is anchovy in it, in fact I will probably add even more anchovy next time. (You do not have to even like anchovy to enjoy this taste!) Six year old daughter loved it! I followed recipe exactly except that I used panko bread crumbs (the japanese breadcrumbs) and it tasted super. I told my husband to taste it, he kept asking me what was in it, I told him to taste it first. He said it was so good. I told him about the anchovy, he didn't believe me! Wonderful blend of flavors. I will add a squeeze of lemon next time as reccomended by the reviewer before me. Yum!

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
1 user found this review helpful

Reviewer:

bakermd

Cooking Level: Beginning

Living In: Temecula, California, USA

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Sep. 3, 2008

This is just a tip: I've seen a version of this recipe in one of the River Cafe cookbooks, and they add the juice & zest of 2 small lemons (I use only 1), and also add crushed red chile peppers into the oil at first. This makes it more "saucy" and is a great counterbalance to the oil and anchovies.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
10 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

kristeva

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Aug. 26, 2008

Variation: Remove olive oil and cover with browned butter and crumbled feta cheese.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
1 user found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Shane

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Aug. 24, 2008

My mom is Italian and makes this same recipe every Christmas Eve. I agree totally with GuineaPigGirl: Italians do not use a tomato-based sauce with every pasta dish. This dish should be pleasantly oily with a light, anchovie flavor mixed with the buttery, garlicky breadcrumbs. The only difference in how my mom makes it and this recipe is that she uses linguine instead of spaghetti. Small point, I know, but the ingredients seem to cling better to the linguine.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
13 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Jacqueline Brown

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Living In: Tucson, Arizona, USA

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Jun. 13, 2008

My family really loved this recipe. A definite keeper. I can see this being a good base to then add sundried tomatoes, olives and any kind of meat or chicken. DH doesn't even know yet there are anchovies in this dish! I wasn't going to tell him! Why spoil a good thing? So tasty and good for you! We made it with penne pasta. That's Italian!

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
2 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Laura

Cooking Level: Expert

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Mar. 25, 2008

Very nice, tastes just like home (I'm Italian) What alot people don't realize is that the pasta is SUPPOSED to be DRY! Italians don't always like thick soupy sauces all the timeThats the style of pasta it is. I usually add a squeeze of lemon for some zing and not so much parsely. Bellisimo!

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
16 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

GuineaPigGirl

Cooking Level: Expert

Living In: Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Mar. 8, 2008

I thought this was very tasty and made for a quick and easy side dish! I used my mini-processor to chop the garlic and anchovies (in oil with capers). I only did a 1/2 cup seasoned Italian bread crumbs and I used 2 Tbl. freeze dried basil instead of parsely. Super quick, easy and delicious! I used this as a side to my Tilapia Parmesan from this site.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
4 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

JAK3G

Cooking Level: Intermediate

My Profile | Cooks I Like | Reviews
Photos | Recipes | Blog

Reviewed: Feb. 20, 2008

Made this recipe last night. The flavors were fantastic - but it was EXTREMELY dry. Once you add the bread crumbs there is no sauce left. It is basically flavored bread crumbs that you add to the cooked pasta. I recommend adding more olive oil and/or water from the boiled pasta into the breadcrumbs. Like someone else, I also added red pepper flakes to spice it up a bit.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
5 users found this review helpful