Salted cod and anchovies are a perfect marriage and this sauce is heavenly over a bowlful of deeply satisfying spaghetti! The crispy capers add to the crunch of the dish and the sprinkled bottarga to the umami bringing the whole dish perfectly together.
Ingredients (serves 2)
- 250g spaghetti
- 250g Salted cod fillets, desalted
- 4 anchovies
- 2 cups of milk
- 2 bay leaves
- 3-4 pepper corns
- ¾ cup evoo
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 tbsp capers, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp finely chopped garlic
- 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
- 1 tbsp finely chopped dill
- ½ lemon, juice and zest
- 1 tbsp bottarga dust
Follow the suppliers instructions for desalting the cod.
In a pan, put the cod fillets, milk, bay leaves and pepper corns and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer the cod for 15 minutes. Discard the pepper and bay leaves but reserve the milk. Remove the skin and bones from the cod and shred into bite size chunks.
Rinse the anchovies under warm water for a minute.
Put the cod, anchovy fillets, capers, oil and 3-4 tbsp of the milk into a blender and pulse 2-3 times. You want to retain the texture of the fish. Season with some sea salt if needed and freshly ground black pepper. Thin the sauce further if required by adding some more of the milk. Transfer to a sauteing pan.
Boil the spaghetti and drain reserving some of the water. Add the spaghetti to the sauce, thin with a little of the water if required and drizzle with some olive oil and lemon juice. Add half the herbs and toss into the pasta.
Serve the spaghetti in bowls, sprinkle with plenty of bottarga, the lemon zest and the rest of the finely chopped herbs.