Luca Lazzari
Sous Chef
Today I offer you a simple, classic pasta recipe, which always help me see the bright side of life.
And I applied one of my favorite psychological techniques in making it: in bocca a te, in bocca a me, in bocca al can, gnam gnam gnam. It’s a subtle technique used by my grandmother to make us toddlers eat all sort of horrible stuff, like boiled carrots, chicken soups and other nasty things. The old flesh and blood took a spoonful of the loathsome food, then started her charm: in bocca a te (in your mouth), approaching the toddler’s mouth but not delivering, in bocca a me (in my mouth) approaching her mouth, in bocca al can (in dog’s mouth, fictitious), gnam gnam gnam (chomp chomp chomp) now feeding the laughing and softened victim with the healthy stuff.
While cooking, I adopt a modified version of this technique: putting anchovies in the saucepan, I start chanting in bocca a me (I eat a couple of fillets form the can) in bocca a te (I eat again) in bocca al can (guess what I do?) gnam gnam gnam (now I put the needed fillets in the saucepan).
The recipe is quite simple, but there’s a warning note: if you don’t like anchovies or garlic, do not prepare it: I’m really sorry for all the anchovy/garlic haters platoon.
The ingredients are extra virgin olive oil (2 tablespoons), 2 cloves garlic (peeled; do not crush them), 6 or more tiny canned anchovy fillets, 200 g canned tuna, 400 g canned chopped tomatoes, 2 teaspoons dried oregano, a dozen pitted black olives, 1 tablespoon drained capers, 450 g of short pasta (rigatoni, tortiglioni) and a handful of coarse salt.
Start bringing a large pot of water to a rolling boil; when it will boil, you will add the coarse salt and, when the sauce will be almost ready, add the pasta and cook it according to the label (or, better, taste it to have it as you like it most).
Warm the olive oil in a saucepan on low fire then put in the garlic and sauté for a couple of minutes; when it’s golden/brown, take it away. Take away the saucepan from fire, let it rest for a moment then add the anchovy fillets and put it back on low fire (you don’t want to burn them). Using a wooden spoon, break the fillets, turning them in a sort of past; this cannot require more then a couple of minutes. Put the tuna in the saucepan ant stir well, breaking the tuna but leaving some piece of it, don’t melt it till the last particle. After about 2 minutes, add the olives, add the tomatoes, stir well, add salt to taste, add the oregano. Cook for about 20 minutes. If the sauce gets too dry, you can moist it later with some of the pasta cooking water.
When the pasta is cooked, put the warm sauce in a warm bowl, add the capers, add the pasta, stir well and serve at once. DO NOT add grated cheese, please. If you cannot eat it without cheese, please use pecorino instead of parmigiano.
Buon appetito!
And I applied one of my favorite psychological techniques in making it: in bocca a te, in bocca a me, in bocca al can, gnam gnam gnam. It’s a subtle technique used by my grandmother to make us toddlers eat all sort of horrible stuff, like boiled carrots, chicken soups and other nasty things. The old flesh and blood took a spoonful of the loathsome food, then started her charm: in bocca a te (in your mouth), approaching the toddler’s mouth but not delivering, in bocca a me (in my mouth) approaching her mouth, in bocca al can (in dog’s mouth, fictitious), gnam gnam gnam (chomp chomp chomp) now feeding the laughing and softened victim with the healthy stuff.
While cooking, I adopt a modified version of this technique: putting anchovies in the saucepan, I start chanting in bocca a me (I eat a couple of fillets form the can) in bocca a te (I eat again) in bocca al can (guess what I do?) gnam gnam gnam (now I put the needed fillets in the saucepan).
The recipe is quite simple, but there’s a warning note: if you don’t like anchovies or garlic, do not prepare it: I’m really sorry for all the anchovy/garlic haters platoon.
The ingredients are extra virgin olive oil (2 tablespoons), 2 cloves garlic (peeled; do not crush them), 6 or more tiny canned anchovy fillets, 200 g canned tuna, 400 g canned chopped tomatoes, 2 teaspoons dried oregano, a dozen pitted black olives, 1 tablespoon drained capers, 450 g of short pasta (rigatoni, tortiglioni) and a handful of coarse salt.
Start bringing a large pot of water to a rolling boil; when it will boil, you will add the coarse salt and, when the sauce will be almost ready, add the pasta and cook it according to the label (or, better, taste it to have it as you like it most).
Warm the olive oil in a saucepan on low fire then put in the garlic and sauté for a couple of minutes; when it’s golden/brown, take it away. Take away the saucepan from fire, let it rest for a moment then add the anchovy fillets and put it back on low fire (you don’t want to burn them). Using a wooden spoon, break the fillets, turning them in a sort of past; this cannot require more then a couple of minutes. Put the tuna in the saucepan ant stir well, breaking the tuna but leaving some piece of it, don’t melt it till the last particle. After about 2 minutes, add the olives, add the tomatoes, stir well, add salt to taste, add the oregano. Cook for about 20 minutes. If the sauce gets too dry, you can moist it later with some of the pasta cooking water.
When the pasta is cooked, put the warm sauce in a warm bowl, add the capers, add the pasta, stir well and serve at once. DO NOT add grated cheese, please. If you cannot eat it without cheese, please use pecorino instead of parmigiano.
Buon appetito!
You know, Rocklobster, you make me thing that I never had this pasta con tonno until I started cooking by myself, no one of my zie or nonne ever prepared it.
