Spaghetti with Tomatoes & Anchovies - An Heirloom Recipe Series

Omg it's not a cake! Pasta for the win - Extra Food Chat with Kath

Welcome to another edition of Extra Food Chat with Kath!

Are you in shock?!

I am! Not a baked good in sight this time! Behold a savoury recipe!

When I saw this recipe written in one of my Grandma’s recipe notebooks I knew I had to make it. Anything with anchovies and tomatoes I tend to love, plus I could eat pasta most nights of the week and never tire of it.

I don’t think my Grandma ever made this recipe, she rarely cooked with tomatoes as her and Grandpa believed tomatoes inflamed their joints (I have no idea about the basis of this theory or it’s relation to fact!). Italian recipes weren’t really something Grandma made, and I don’t think an anchovy was ever found in her kitchen.

The notebook I found this recipe in contains a selection of recipes from different places around the world. There are a few French recipes, some Italian, a few Chinese recipes and one recipe for a ‘Russian Salad’. I’m not sure how authentic these recipes are, but I believe they were part of my Grandma’s church’s way of encouraging their congregation to learn more about other cultures.

When Grandma was in her final days, we happened to visit her at the same time the Minister from her church was there. It was the first time we had crossed paths, even though he had been visiting her the whole year she had been in the nursing home (we had a visitor book for her so we could all see who visited her and what was going on, however the Minister had never written in it so his visits had been unknown to us until the very end of Grandma’s life).

The Minister told us about the various classes Grandma had attended at the church, learning about other cultures and religions, and I assume that is where some of these recipes come from, including this one.

It was slightly strange to hear about this other part of Grandma’s life right when she was at the end. She rarely spoke of her church and what went on in the community there. I often thought in some ways this was a good thing, as she never pressured anyone else to attend, it was just part of her life. I know she was often involved in the flower arrangements for the church as that was something she always liked, but I don’t recall ever hearing her mention anything else.

After reading a few of these heirloom recipes, you must be wondering if we ever spoke about anything at all! It’s hard to express how closed off my Grandparents were. I suppose for quite a long time I didn’t know any different and being a shy child I never pushed the boundaries or asked questions when I felt it wasn’t welcome.

Looking back however, I can see how it would seem odd to not know so much about my Grandma even though I was in my 20s when she died. I often got the impression that being a parent or grandparent was seen as a obligation by my Grandparent’s rather than roles they relished and enjoyed. Communication was often minimal, and that has led to many unanswered questions, and not knowing much about other facets of their lives.

Despite this there are some good memories, many of them revolving around food. Recipes like this one, whilst possibly have no connection to Grandma outside of the fact she wrote it down, still allow me to feel somewhat connected to her, sometimes even more so than when she was alive.

I have altered the recipe for this Spaghetti with Tomatoes and Anchovies slightly, based on how I usually like to make pastas, plus filling in the gaps where the original recipe was lacking further information. Being a pasta dish, I think this recipe lends itself to lots of variations (I will be adding capers and olives next time! Maybe some cooked pancetta too), and you could increase the tomatoes for a bit more sauce, or reduce the spaghetti quantity to feed less and have a decent sauce to pasta ratio. I would also use almost any pasta here in future! The sky’s the limit with this one!

There are a few recipe notes/suggestions at the end of the recipe so please read those before you start cooking for some added tips and suggestions.

The recipe for this Spaghetti with Tomatoes and Anchovies is below for paid subscribers.

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