Description
Dish Description
Linguine burro e alici is a typical homemade pasta dish from the south of Italy that today is quickly earning a seat in the fanciest restaurants.
Burro e alici stands out for its creamy anchovy – butter sauce that smacks you down with a punch of flavour and savoury. Its taste is round and intense, like every culinary jewel that comes from Southern Italy.
Pasta has to be cooked al dente by blending the starchy water with butter and anchovies. The salty proteins of the anchovies gift the pasta with a fishy and umami complexity of flavours, enriched by the crunchiness of breadcrumbs and the glazing layer of butter.
The final outcome is a bliss for your palate, that will spice up your dinner with a cheeky twist.
Whether your guests are dear friends or something more… they’ll look at you with new eyes.
The history of linguine burro e alici
The birth of burro e alici sinks its roots in an almost gone, ancient history that melts into the legend.
According to the story, its origin has to be found when the Emperor of the Roman Empire Giulio Cesare joined a banquet held by his friend Valerio Leone. The host served the companions a dish of artichokes dressed with butter instead of the olive oil, commonly used in Rome.
The host explained the oil in that region was unbearably costly, but all the guests at the banquet complained about the choice, addressing it as weird and disgusting. All but Giulio Cesare, who instead scolded the hell out of the guests and enjoyed the butter so much that he kept asking Valerio Leone about it.
On the day after, the legend says that Giulio Cesare smeared the butter on a slice of bread and topped it with some garum, a fermented fish sauce typically used in Ancient Rome.
The Emperor’s intuition led to a mix of sweetness and savoury so delicious that those flavours have been handed down across generation, finally getting to be used on pasta in what today has become the mouth-watering recipe we simply named burro e alici.
Meal Kit Details
Linguine di Gragnano (500gr/1.1Lb): Durum wheat semolina, water. Produced in Gragnano (NA)- Italy
Italian Fillets of Anchovies in pure Olive Oil (90gr/3.17 Oz). Produced in Italy – Imported in Brooklyn, NY USA
100 % Grass Fed Ghee (Clarified butter), (2 x 1oz jar): Cultured organic grass-fed butter.
Plain Breadcrumb (2 x 0.18 Oz): wheat flour, dextrose, yeast & amp; salt. Origin USA. Produced and packed in Brooklyn, NY
Coarse Sea Salt (2 x 0.88 Oz): Mediterranean Sea Salt, harvested from clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea and dried by natural solar evaporation. Packed in Brooklyn, NY
FOOD ALLERGY WARNING: CONTAINS MILK, WHEAT, ANCHOVIES
4 Servings
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
The recipe’s secret
Anchovies
Anchovies are small fish from temperate waters such as the Mediterranean Sea.
They’re mostly used as a seasoning or garnish due to their unique salty, umami, flavours. They are indeed capable to add a twist when melted in a sauce, and their rich taste is the reason why you can find anchovies in quite a number or dishes, from pasta, pizza to tasty soups.
The best way to make the most out of anchovies is balance. Their salty and fishy meat, when correctly weighed, provides flavour and savoury to the dish, sometimes replacing any added salt.
Recommended for:
- Meals with gluttony friends.
- A dinner with someone who enjoys trying new flavours.
- A cozy lunch by yourself or with family.