for about 4 persons, abundant portions! Ingredients: 1 lb bucatini pasta (thick spaghettini with a tiny hole – “buco”) … or use penne or rigatoni 3 small bell peppers, one red, one yellow, one green olive oil 2 garlic cloves 2 anchovies under oil white wine 2 T of tomato sauce broth (fine to use a simple one made with a boullion cube… if possible, STAR brodo) a handful of black olives without pits, cut into small pieces salt 1 small red chili pepper (peperoncino) – optional grated pecorino cheese (romano… or other) Put on pasta water to boil in large pot and begin to prepare sauce. Singe the peppers – can be done over gas flame on stove if you are using gas – otherwise, put in hot oven til skin blisters. Rinse under water, eliminating blistered skin. Open peppers and eliminate seeds and “nerves”, then cut into strips. In sauce pan, brown til golden the 2 garlic cloves in about 4 T of olive oil. DO NOT BURN.
Crush garlic with fork and then remove from oil (so oil has garlic flavor but no one will be eating garlic). Add anchovies to oil and crush with fork (and add chili pepper at this point if you like it a little piccante = hot). Add peppers and cook on lively heat about 2 mins, splashing with 1/2 c. of white wine.
Reduce to medium heat and simmer so that wine evaporates. Add tomato sauce diluted in with 3-4 T. of broth (or just use water if you don’t want to bother with broth)… and cook sauce over medium heat for about 1/4 hr, having added olives at halfway point.
When pasta is cooked al dente, drain and mix well into sauce. Add grated cheese and serve hot. Note regarding tomatoes: If very ripe Roma tomatoes are available, you may use those. Boil water – drop tomatoes into it – then remove skins of tomatoes. Use about 4-5 tomatoes.