Hello hive friends.
Here in North America, when people think of a breakfast food, they think of toast, eggs, bacon and pancakes and cereal.
In this household we don't eat typical breakfast. We eat anything we want. Usually we have leftovers from the night before. Often we have a quick pasta with sauce. The sauce is often marinara.
Today I would finally make a dish typically known as, Spaghetti allo scammero. I have been meaning to do this for a while since I stumbled upon some recipes a while back.
This is a dish that apparently originated in Naples. It's considered a frugal dish without meat or dairy. Sometimes there are anchovies in it. I don't eat animal products, but when I did, I would probably added the anchovies.
I don't know why a dish with pine nuts in it is a poor man's dish. If I ate pine nuts everyday, I would end up broke. Not many people around here use them. If they do, they must have money to burn. While I don't have money to burn, I do allow a once or twice a year splurge on pine nuts.
I guess the ingredients are easier to get in Italy and countries around. Almost everything I am using for this is imported. This poor man's dish is a luxury for me.
The key ingredients are capers, olives, pine nuts, garlic and toasted bread crumbs. I only had fine breadcrumbs, but a less fine bread crumb would be better.
It is probably more common to use kalamata olives, I'm guessing but I just grabbed green ones from my fridge. They were whole, and pitted. I decided to chop them so they would be dispersed in the dish.
Vermicelli allo scammero
1/2 cup olives
100g cup raisins
1 cup bread crumbs
100g cup pine nuts
50g garlic cloves
1/4 cup capers
300g spaghetti
1/2 cup parsley
1/2 cup fresh basil
1 cup olive split in two parts
Small hand full salt for the pasta water
Black pepper and chili flakes (optional) to the taste
The amounts I have used, of everything, are randomly chosen, then weighed out, but I'm sure it's all about preference.
I had some basil that was in the fridge for a week, so along with some parsley I gathered it up for a garnish.
This typically would not include chili flakes or pepper, but I like a little spice so I added them in as well as black pepper.
I always generously salt the pasta water, which a little is added to the pan later. I began to saute the rest of the items to have ready for the vermicelli when it would be half way done. I like to use vermicelli instead of spaghetti, because it's faster and I don't want to wait sometimes.
The bread crumbs were toasted in a little oil and set aside. I thought it was strange to put bread crumbs on top, but then I figured it out, I think. It would add texture, for one thing. Also since it is a dish without dairy, it would replace the cheese on top. Yeah sure, I know people that would scoff at that. I don't eat cheese anyway, but I guess I can see from their point of view.
I added the garlic to saute in half the olive oil. When it was golden I added the other items except for the herbs.
The sweetness of the raisins and the saltiness of the olives and capers had a balance of flavour that I personally love. This is what inspired me to make this in the first place.
I then added the non traditional, for this dish, chili and pepper, which could make an Italian chef angry. Oh well, they'll never find me.
I probably could have put the pine nuts in first to get them more toasted, but it was fine.
The vermicelli was added to the boiling water. This cooks faster then spaghetti so I don't walk away. I like pasta to have a bite. Al dente.
Before it's done the way I like, I add the pasta to the pan with tongs.
About 1 cup of pasta water was added to continue the cooking and prevent dryness. It was carefully tossed and ready to serve.
It is a lot olive oil, but I drizzled some remaining oil on top of the pasta after it was dished out.
It was not necessary to add salt to the pan because of the pasta water, having been salted.
The olives and capers lent to the saltiness and the raisins' sweetness balanced it out. I also used a good load of garlic. We love our garlic.
This was a very luxurious breakfast, inspired by a traditional frugal Neapolitan dish. I would love to do this again, but I will substitute with almonds. My pine nut consumption is done for the year.
Thanks for passing by
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