Philomena's Christmas Eve Pasta

This is a classic Italian Christmas Eve Pasta, but Rosemarie tells us "Some who have eaten this pasta (recipe below) call it 'soul food.' I serve this pasta dish now on any occasion, year-round. Like my grandmother says, 'Eat! No matter what happens, eat and enjoy'."

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 can anchovies click for note
• 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 1 pound cans Italian tomatoes in puree
• 1/2 cup pine nuts, roasted until light brown in a small skillet
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 can medium pitted olives, sliced
• 1 pound cappelini pasta (angel hair)

METHOD

Heat olive oil in a large skillet or pot. Add oil from can of anchovies. Chop anchovies into small, 1/4-inch slices. Add slices to pot and turn heat on medium. Cook about 5 minutes. Anchovies should start to melt. Add chopped garlic. Cook three minutes longer.

Prepare tomatoes by pouring cans of tomatoes into a bowl and squishing them with your hands, breaking up the clumps of tomato into small pieces. Add this sauce to the pot. Cook for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the roasted pine nuts and raisins. You can add pepper here for taste, if you wish. Cook 20 minutes longer.

Add sliced olives. Cook sauce for 5 minutes longer. (Do not overcook sauce with olives added, as they will discolor the sauce.)

Cook pasta in 4 quarts of salted boiling water. Cook following the pasta box directions - usually 7 minutes or until al dente). Drain pasta.

Place 1/3 of sauce into a large, wide pasta serving dish (or you can use individual serving plates). Add pasta and slowly turn the pasta with a pasta server fork to integrate sauce into pasta. Keep adding sauce and turning until all pasta is covered with sauce. Cappellini absorbs sauce, so it may take a few minutes to mix sauce and pasta together.

Buon Appetitio!

Serves: 4 - 6

Recipe from www.inmamaskitchen.com

Contributor: Rosemarie Perla          back to Christmas recipes

NOTE:   Don't allow this ingredient to intimidate you. The anchovies disintegrate into the oil and all that's left is a delicious (and important to the integrity of this pasta!) subtle taste. I have served this to those who say they do not like anchovies and they have loved it.

top of page