Pasta With Anchovies, Garlic, Chiles and Kale Recipe (2024)

PLEASE do not cook the pasta before doing all the sauteing in the skillet...the pasta will just sit around and get all mushy...exactly when the pasta has been cooked very al dente is the time to add it to the already cooked ingredients in the skillet, let it cook a little to absorb the flavors...

Lovely recipe.. and versatile too if you decide you want just a slight change on your dinner table (say a sudden craving for something more asian in flavor). Anchovies mixed with a little light soy sauce (another pantry staple) makes for a great fish sauce substitute. So add a few splashes of that as well when you're cooking and eschew the capers for some peanuts or walnuts. Add a splash of rice vinegar (or any other in a pinch) which has the benefit of brightening the kale. Any pasta will do.

Before draining, save some of the pasta water to use in the sauce to add flavor and a bit of silkiness.

I switched out potatoes for the pasta--small new potatoes, cooked, peeled, and cut into thick slices. Delicious! I added them when the recipe says to add the pasta. A squeeze of lemon brightened the dish and is worth it.

This had great big earthy flavor! No kale to be had so used spinach and spring greens. Did not cook them, simply let the hot pasta do its thing. Did add lemon juice and pecorino. Made the flavors pop. Will be my new "go to -quick easy - work night" pasta.

Something like this has been my go-do "don't wanna cook" dinner for ages. My greens are usually a ton of chopped flat-leaf parsley; it's actually very bracing and good in this dish (and helps me use up leftover flatleaf parley that is about to 86 it in my fridge--we all know the drill; on Sunday you get two huge bunches, cook with one of them, by Wednesday or so you gotta use the rest....).

This was AWESOME!! It was easy too! The whole family (even the kids) liked it! I always love what anchovies do to a dish. They give the flavors that extra pop! I added shrimp for some protein. I'll add more greens next time. They seemed a little sparse when they cooked down.

Better with less pasta proportionately.

We make this at least once a week at our house because it's so easy, quick, and satisfying. We've settled on getting 4 to 5 servings out of it with these adjustments: 12 to 16 oz of pasta, a whole tin of anchovies, a whole jar of capers, six handfuls of kale, 6 to 8 garlic cloves. Great dinner + leftover lunch for two people.

Yummy! Can easily make it for 1. To toss big volumes of veggies like kale that cook down I use a non-stick wok instead of a skillet. It's also good for mixing in the "sauce" with the pasta. Used whole wheat rotini which stood up well to the strong flavor and caught the dry-ish fixings well. Added chopped walnuts and quartered cherry tomatoes at the sautée step, and grated pecorino plus a good grind of black pepper at the end.

Instead of kale, kale, and more kale, I substitute turnip greens, which cook quickly and add a hint of spice. For protein, I add a can of Goya cannellini beans, well rinsed--this is a week night, after all, so I must avoid the purity of dried beans requiring soaking, cooking, etc. I chop the garlic--otherwise, how does one serve four globs of garlic? And yes, do keep some pasta cooking liquid to think the sauce.

An old Italian lady told me this recipe years ago when I was puzzling over bunches of cime di rapa (don't know what they're called in the US) on a greengrocer's stall in Battersea, South London. I took some home and cooked it as she instructed, and it was a revelation! It works very well with broccoli or cavolo nero, and I have occasionally substituted smoked lardons for the anchovies, giving a different salty savouriness. Definitely loosen the sauce with the cooking water.

cook as directed; don't cook kale in advance or it turns into green pasty mush.

I always learn new techniques from Melissa's recipes, like this method of toasting the chile flakes before adding the other ingredients. This is a simple, simply delicious recipe!

Martha Rose Shulman has a wonderful recipe for parsley hummus on the NYT Web site that I've used often with wonderful results for using up leftover parsley and not letting it go to waste. She wrote a wonderful column on doing so a few years back in which the parsley hummus recipe appeared.

Loads more kale to the recipe! Add shiitake too. A winner!

Nice! I waited to start the pasta till the rest was well underway, as per others' suggestions. I pulverized the kale with a little water in my food processor. I added a few sliced sh*taki mushrooms to the pan when I added kale. I added pinenuts with the the cheese at the end, making a nice texture addition. Walnuts would work. Black pepper important. Forgot the lemon, but will add next time.

Delicious! I agree about increasing the kale and anchovies. I also added some sliced mini roma tomatoes and lemon zest. I think lemon juice and cheese are musts.

I doubled, using a whole tin of anchovies; substituted some slightly spicy Spanish preserved piquillos (about five, diced, and then heated in the oil), and threw in six Voatisperifery pepper corns (somebody put a tin in my stocking!) in the anchovy-garlic-capers solution. It came out lovely, but ample cheese and the lemon juice squeeze seem essential. We ended up using a half a lemon among four of us, so you might as well serve slices even after an initial topping.

I used the whole tin of anchovies, added sliced fennel when I added the kale, and at the end, each plate got a drizzle of truffle oil instead of cheese.Ridiculously delicious, especially considering how easy it was to make.

Use 2/3rd teaspoon of red pepper flakes

I hadn't made this in a while; it was an easy and flavorful weeknight autumn dish. I love fresh greens, and this is an easy way to incorporate them into an easy, satisfying meal.

Very easy, and very tasty. I had a bit too much pasta for the amount of baby kale I had.

We make this at least once a week at our house because it's so easy, quick, and satisfying. We've settled on getting 4 to 5 servings out of it with these adjustments: 12 to 16 oz of pasta, a whole tin of anchovies, a whole jar of capers, six handfuls of kale, 6 to 8 garlic cloves. Great dinner + leftover lunch for two people.

This was especially delicious. Using a large pan is key, as it ensures a quick browning of the capers and garlic, and the anchovies melt into the oil in seconds. Cooked the kale for 1 - 2 minutes with the pasta before adding it to the pan with the other ingredients (and a splash of the pasta water as well). Didn't use lemon, but did use pecorino. This is barely enough for 2 if you're really hungry. Or if you're not! Was so delicious ate nearly all myself. Very well balanced dish!

I don’t eat pasta, but I plan to try this with roasted riced cauliflower. Has anyone tried that?

Loved it! I used spinach and roasted garlic because I had them. I also used just a dash of powdered red pepper and added about two tablespoons of butter at the end to give it a luscious texture. Even my family members who hate the idea of anchovies enjoyed it! This was extremely quick to put together. It'll be a regular meal when I need something quick and want to avoid going to the grocery store.

I used broccoli rabe instead of kale. I expected the dish to be very bitter, but it wasn't. In fact, it was fabulous! And easy.I recommend using the pecorino.

What a delicious pasta! I added a few sliced shiitake mushrooms, which I sautéed in the garlic/capers/anchovy/olive oil mixture. The mushrooms absorbed that umami-rich flavor and added extra richness to the dish. Always great to find a new recipe that uses ingredients that we almost always have on hand.

We precook the kale (stems discarded, leaves simmered in water for ~5 minutes), fish it out of the pot (reusing its water to boil the pasta, usually whole wheat penne), drain it and squeeze out all the water before chopping it fine. That's added to pressed garlic and chopped walnuts (or almonds) sauteed in EVOO. Vegans might appreciate that instead of anchovies, we add finely chopped preserved lemon (salty enough that there's no need to salt the pasta water).