Can food or a product identify an entire population? Yes, it can.

That’s true above all for Italian people. Imagine this very long spaghetti linking the north to the south, passing through the central part, the sea and the islands. Italy is strictly connected to pasta like Germany to frankfurters. Before the economic boom, pasta was eaten above all in southern Italy and there were no pasta factories.

Oh yes! It was the prerogative of the South and above all of the Campania region. Each sauce has its own particular kind of pasta. Before the saying “dogs look like their owners” people used to say “tell me what kind of pasta you prefer and I’ll tell you who you are”! I don’t know if it’s true but I’m very amused by that.

Many things helped to create the image of the Italian who eats “maccheroni”, such as Alberto Sordi and Totò. The first one was divided between his desire of changing and the strong one of preserving his own roots and then he succumbed to the challenge issued by the “maccherone”. The second one, the prince De Curtis, celebrated the end of a period of hunger and poverty eating spaghetti on the table, taking them with hands and putting them into his mouth and pockets (in case of being poor again!).

That’s how pasta went from southern poor people’s tables to northern Italy and also far from our country, beyond the ocean and became the symbol of an entire population. Three ingredients: wheat, water and salt but a lot of passion, history, love and hard work. Three ingredients for a region, Campania, where making pasta is an art and is the job of many people and it represents the future for their families.

For this recipe I’m going to use the pasta from Salerno, the pasta of Antonio Amato’s Pasta factory that goes back to our tables with a new packaging after a long difficult period, that is finally over.

This recipe is “sciuè sciuè” (easy and quick) and it takes longer to write it than to prepare it. We have chosen the loved, respected spaghetti, Antonio Amato spaghetti with garlic, oil, anchovies, bread and chilli pepper.

400 gr spaghetti Antonio Amato n.5

2 cloves minced garlic

5 anchovies

2 spoons of breadcrumbs

1 small grated lemon peel

Parsley as required

Chilli pepper as required

Salt as required

Extra virgin olive oil as required

For this recipe we need a great quantity of extra virgin olive oil. Cook pasta in the boiling salted water. In the meantime melt the anchovies over a low heat with oil and then add garlic to let it brown. Toast breadcrumbs in a preheated pan and put aside in a small pot. Grate the lemon peel. Mince the parsley. Cook pasta until it is nearly done and put some cooking water aside.

Drain pasta and finish cooking it into the oil, adding some cooking water. Add the lemon peel, the parsley and the minced chilli pepper. Put pasta into dishes and sprinkle the breadcrumbs like it was grated cheese.

Here you can find the original article. Thanks to cookinginrosa.com