St. Joseph’s Day Pasta Spaghetti di San Giuseppe
St. Joseph’s Day Pasta Spaghetti di San Giuseppe
St. Joseph’s Day Pasta is also called Sawdust Pasta or Carpenter’s Pasta, and a great way to honor St. Joseph, the foster-father of Baby Jesus. Since Joseph was a carpenter by trade, it is fitting to serve a pasta that resembles sawdust the sawdust on his carpenter’s workshop floor. — but tastes much better!
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Spaghetti in an anchovy sauce with breadcrumbs
Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 9 anchovy fillets in olive oil, drained
- sea salt
- 1 pound spaghetti
- ½ cup olive oil
- 6 large garlic cloves, minced
- Large pinch of red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- ⅔ cup toasted fresh breadcrumbs
Instructions
Making Breadcrumbs skillet or oven
Skillet
- Warm 2 tablespoon olive oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat.
- Add ¾ cup of fresh breadcrumbs and stir to coat with oil.
- Cook, stirring constantly, until the crumbs are golden brown and crunchy, about 5 minutes.
Oven
- Place ¾ cup of fresh bread crumbs in a bowl with 2 tablespoons olive oil.
- Using your hands or a fork, gently combine the ingredients.
- Spread the breadcrumbs on a baking sheet and place in a 350 degree F. oven.
- Bake about 8 minutes, stirring a couple of times, until golden brown and crisp.
- Set the breadcrumbs aside.
Directions
- Put a large pot of well-salted water (about 5 quarts) over high heat and bring to a boil. Add 2 tablespoons of sea salt when the water comes to a boil.
- Add the spaghetti to the boiling water.
- While the spaghetti is cooking to al dente, make the anchovy sauce.
- Finely chop 6 anchovy fillets; cut the remaining 3 into ½-inch pieces; set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat.
- Add the garlic, red pepper, and finely chopped anchovies.
- Cook, stirring until the anchovies dissolve.
- Add ¼ cup of the pasta water and bring the sauce to a rapid simmer for about a minute.
- Remove the skillet from the heat.
- Stir in the parsley and remaining anchovies.
- Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water and drain the pasta.
- Add the pasta and ¼ cup of the pasta water to the skillet with the anchovy sauce.
- Toss until the strands are well coated.
- Add some of the reserved pasta water if the mixture seems too dry.
- Set aside 2 tablespoons of the toasted bread crumbs.
- Add the remaining crumbs to the skillet and toss the pasta again.
- Transfer the pasta to individual serving bowls.
- Top each serving with a sprinkling of the reserved bread crumbs.