I would like to start a series on budget priced gourmet tasting meals. This is number 1.

My family loves pasta. This is one of our favorites, next to pesto. It is super affordable and will impress guests too. The blend of anchovies, garlic and fresh herbs make this seem like a high budget dish. That is, if you hang around with the unsophisticated ilk that I do. They aren’t dangerous, they just appear that way. I think 20 years ago some of them were… but they’re old now and looking scary is easier than being scary.
Off to the grub-

Here’s what you need. Feel free to substitute anything you think would work better for your family, party or whatever. Some people aren’t real big on basil. If you’re one just use all parsley.

• 1 pound semolina spaghetti
• 1/4 cup olive oil. (It doesn’t have to be extra virgin. No one will notice. Trust me.)
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed. More or less depending what you can stand.
• 1 (2-ounce) can anchovy fillets, chopped pretty small.
• 1 cup fine crushed crackers of your choice. Don’t use Triscuits® or any other hay bale type of cracker. Saltines or Ritz® work great.
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• Fresh ground black pepper to taste
• Couple dashes/squeezes of lemon juice
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese or the same amount of the green can kind. It won’t be as good but still tasty.

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. you can add salt to the water if you like.
2. Add pasta and cook for 8 minutes or until al dente.
3. Drain, rinse with hot tap water and drain again.
4. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat and add garlic and anchovies to cook for about 2-3 minutes, stirring continuously.
5. Turn off heat
6. Stir in cracker crumbs.
7. Add parsley and black ground pepper. Mix thoroughly.
8. Toss the the hot pasta into the olive oil crumb sauce.
9. Stir in the lemon juice.
10. Sprinkle with cheese.
11. Serve and eat.

This is a very nice and elegant Italian pasta dish. This dish will be drier than you may be used to. In Italy, many pasta dishes aren’t served with thick sauces. Serve with a nice white wine or like at our home, a big glass of ice-cold 1% milk. I especially like to do the garlic over-dose and serve with garlic bread and a ceasar-ish salad. Then breathe on my co-workers in the morning with my garlic-coffee breath.