Pasta in a Hurry- Pasta Sciue Sciue
I made this for the second time last week. Everyone loved it the first time so when my aunt and uncle from Italy were visiting, I decided to make it again. I thought I was being clever! Then It was brought to my attention that I had made a version of pasta sciue sciue. This means “hurry” in Neapolitan dialect. This is because it is a quick meal that can be done in the amount of time your pasta will take to cook! I love those kinds of recipes!
I love this dish because it’s easy, but also because it uses fresh cherry or grape tomatoes for a quick light sauce! It’s perfect for a light dinner. So as you can imagine, this recipe has many variations. I use anchovy paste in this dish. Leave it out if you don’t like it, but I think it adds a nice saltiness to the dish. It’s just that little something that no one can tell is there, but it adds a lot of flavor! I’m not a huge anchovy fan, that’s why I use the paste. It melts right into whatever your cooking so you get that great flavor without eating a chunk of anchovy. If you don’t mind anchovies, by all means, use the traditional kind. They will also kind of break up into the sauce. I add black olive oil cured olives. You can get these just about anywhere! They even have some jarred in the store now! I almost always have a jar on hand, in case I can’t get to that olive bar at the specialty store. The tomatoes and olives together really make this dish pop! Plus the tomatoes get cooked just long enough to burst and create that perfect bite with the olives! You can top this with cheese, but I didn’t. Do what feeds your fancy!
Pasta in a Hurry - Pasta Sciue Sciue
Ingredients
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 1 shallot or half a small onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 2 pints cherry tomatoes or grape tomaores halved
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons anchovy paste
- 1 cup black olive oil cured olives
- salt & pepper
- reserved pasta cooking water if needed
Instructions
- Wash and halve your tomatoes. Chop the garlic and shallot.
- Cook your spaghetti according to package directions.
- In a large saute pan heat olive oil over medium heat and add anchovy paste until melted.
- Add shallot and garlic. Saute for a minute or two.
- Add the tomatoes. Add salt and pepper.
- Cook the tomatoes until they release some liquid and begin to pop. This should tale about 10 minutes.
- Add the olives and continue to cook another minute or two. Add some pasta cooking water if needed to thicken up the sauce, or if the sauce is drying up too quickly.
- Drain your pasta and remove it to a serving bowl. Coat pasta with sauce. Enjoy!
