Cheap & cheerful: Pantry Challege, Mark 2

It must have been Jamie Oliver – a man now living in a (cough, cough) ‘peasant’ kitchen garden, most recently filmed behind the wheel of the country/city person’s vehicle of choice, the Land Rover* -  who alerted me to pangritata, when he was younger, thinner and often on the ABC. Collectively, we were pasta-obsessed in the nineties, but not so much a decade later. Perhaps it was a case of overkill? Pasta is, however, about as cheap and cheerful a meal as you could wish and all it requires resides, long-term, in the pantry.

Pangritata is a Southern Italian stroke of genius; a peasant substitute for Parmesan cheese born both of necessity and poverty. Modest ingredients – stale bread; hardy herbs, picked from a Mediterranean hillside; a clove of crushed garlic and a few anchovies or olives from the stores – fried until crisp and golden in olive oil, suggest little, but pangritata is oh so much more.

Drying rosemary at home is profoundly simple. I’ve never bought it dried and neither, I think, should you. I heartily recommend any of the following methods for procuring your rosemary, all of which I have been, at one time or another, according to the state of my wallet, guilty: buy a plant, pot it nicely and harvest when the sprigs are long and lush; buy a bundle from your favourite grocer, use some fresh (that scent…crushed between the fingers…bliss) and dry the remainder; find a friendly neighbour with a healthy bush growing in their garden and ask, politely, for a sprig or two; or, wait until it’s dark, grab a pair of scissors, check over your shoulder and discreetly snip away.

Take the sprigs (the longer, the better), tie them together at the base with string or sewing thread (whatever you have to hand) and hang them somewhere dry and airy. In a week or two, strip, then crumble the needles into a jar and store for up to six months in the pantry.

Pasta with pangritata – feeds 2
You may be left with some pangritata crumbs, but they keep, and well, in an airtight container. Scatter as you would parmesan. I’m generous with oil – always, and make no apology – but please, don’t be tempted to use less than 2 tablespoons when frying off these crumbs. The oil is precisely what makes them so good.  

Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 x 400g tin of tomatoes
Pinch of chilli powder (optional)
Pasta (as much as you and your companion will eat)
2 slices of bread (any kind, preferably stale)
4-5 anchovies OR 1/3 cup pitted black olives
1 teaspoon dried, chopped rosemary

Warm 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan. Add the onion and sauté until soft then tip in the tomatoes, juices and all, the chilli powder if you’re using it, and bubble away for 5-10 minutes. If your tomatoes are whole, break them up with a wooden spoon while this is happening.   

Get your pasta cooking.

Toast the bread in a toaster, even if it’s very stale. Tear into pieces and whiz to chunky crumbs in a food processor with the anchovies (or olives) and rosemary. Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan. When hot, add the breadcrumbs and fry until golden, toasty and fragrant. Remove to a plate to cool.

When the pasta is cooked, drain it and toss through the tomato sauce. Warm gently and serve in bowls topped generously with the pangritata.

*Good for you, Jamie. Good for us. You’ve done an excellent, repeat, excellent job of making people approach food in a new light. I love you for it despite that supercilious comment.

Kathryn at Limes and Lycopene is hosting the second round of her Pantry Challenge. The challenge is to use just what's on Kathryn's list of pantry basics. You have until the 30th of November to join in.

Comments

[another outspoken female]

Thankfully unlike Jamie you don't mix and serve your food in chipped and cracked crockery. I remember watching him cooking in his shed with pretty, old bowls well studded with salmonella traps!

Oh God that makes me sound about 100 doesn't it? I love well worn crockery, err just not mixing raw eggs, chicken, meat etc in it then serving salad in the same bowl.

[kathryn]

It was Mr Oliver who also put me onto this technique. There's a wonderful recipe in his Italian book for a cauliflower risotto, which is in danger of being bland until you spark it up with a chilli pangritata.

The results are wonderful, particularly the contrast in textures between the creamy, soft risotto and the crunchy chilli breadcrumbs. And it's wonderful poverty food of course.

[Ricki]

I have to admit I'm still charmed by Oliver when I see him on TV over here. Never heard of it before, bu this dish sounds incredible. I am making this!!

[Lucy]

I too love Jamie - even with all the trappings of (uber!) success his is still *the* most infectious, burning, of passions for cooking today. Have you seen his garden? It's exquisite and incredibly productive...I wish...Ricki, you'll love this, I just know it. On a tray of roasted veg, it's inspired (make /loads/ more though) and Kathryn's mention of that cauli risotto sounds bloody good, too.

[Vicki]

Pangritata is awesome for livening up dishes! And I love your foglie pasta, I can rarely find it.

[Shula]

Memo to me:

Come to Vic Market with you, some time.

Beautiful.

[Johanna]

A great pantry dish - sounds much easier than half the meals Jamie seemed to get these people making on his recent show!

I love your recommendations for procuring rosemary - we have a small bush but I still look longingly at a neighbouring property with a row of rosemary bushes out the front - I think they are meant to be ornamental but they do seem to tempt phantom snippers in the night!

[Christina]

I have not seen Jaimie's garden--if I did, I would probably want to build myself a little shed and move right in.

I've also never made pangritata, though it is now on my list of to-dos. Yum.

Does rosemary grow like a weed there as it does here?

[holler]

I am liking this one a lot! So simple and tasty.

[chelsea]

Well, I may just have to have pasta for dinner tonight... It warms the belly just looking at those lovely pics.

[Carson]

ditto for the Jamie O remarks I agree with both sentiments :)
and another PCC*! You know I'm a sucker for them. *Adds to list*

*Pantry Cheap n Cheerful

[mp]

Pangritata looks like a great idea but where is the garlic? Could/should I add it to the bread, anchovies and rosemary?

[Lucy]

Hi mp - yes, add a clove then. There's no mention of garlic in the recipe because the list for The Pantry Challenge did not allow its use. Normally I add 1 clove, peeled and chopped to the mixture before it gets whizzed to crumbs in the processor. Hope you enjoy it - delicious and dead easy.

[mp]

Ah, the challenge rules, I see. I love garlic, so I'll definitely try the pangritata with it.

[neil]

I love the sound of this! My Polish wife uses fried breadcrumbs for a few dishes, but making them more savoury, nice touch.

[Antonella]

just so you know, the correct word is pangrattato, which means grated bread (from a loaf of stale bread, of course)
;-)
hugs from Italy
Antonella