Ingredients
- 90 ml olive oil plus extra to serve
- 60 g unsalted butter
- 8 small garlic cloves peeled and finely chopped (not crushed)
- 8 tinned anchovy fillets drained and finely chopped
- Salt and black pepper
- 400 g dried or fresh spaghetti
- 120 g green olives de-stoned and roughly chopped
- 6 spring onions trimmed and cut into 3cm-long julienne strips
- 2½ tbsp finely chopped parsley 10g
- 6½ finely chopped chives 20g
- 2 lemons – 1 cut into 5 thin slices pips removed and finely chopped, flesh, rind and all, the other juiced, to get 2 tbsp
Instructions
- Put the oil, butter, garlic and anchovies in a large saute pan on a medium heat and fry gently for eight minutes, until the garlic is soft and fragrant – you don’t want the garlic to brown, so lower the heat if necessary – then set aside while you cook the pasta.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, then cook the spaghetti until al dente. Drain the pasta, then put in the garlic oil pan on a medium heat, add the sardines, spring onions, parsley, chives, chopped lemon and lemon juice, and toss to combine. Check the seasoning – depending on how salty the anchovies and cooking water are, you may need to add a pinch of salt. Divide between four plates, finish with black pepper and a drizzle of extra oil, if you need it, and serve.
Notes
During lockdown, many people asked me for clever ideas for using up tinned fish, which everyone seemed to have too much of, though in my book, there is no such thing as too many tins of anchovy. Here, I’ve also managed to put a tin of sardines to good use. If you’re not that into tinned fish, however, don’t despair: try finely chopped capers instead of the anchovies and roughly chopped green olives for the sardines.
