As well as Puglia being adorned with a long, beautiful coastline, largely free of tourists and development it is reputed for Italy’s finest durum wheat, fabulous deep green olive oil and succulent olives from those unmistakable, gnarled olive trees. This simple recipe, believed to have originated in the beautiful baroque city of Lecce will combine all of these staple ingredients to create an unforgettable dish that won’t send you $baroque$ and will feed about four people.

Ingredienti:

6 x tablespoons extra virgin olive oil.

¾ cup of freshly grated bread crumbs.

6 x oil-packed anchovy fillets.

3 x large garlic cloves.

½ small, dried, hot red chili, crumbled.

1 x cup coarsely chopped, pitted green olives.

Sea salt to taste.

500g spaghetti.

Metodo:

Put one teaspoon of olive oil in a small saucepan and toast the bread crumbs in the oil over medium heat for a few minutes, until they are golden brown and crispy.

Remove from heat and set aside.

Roughly chop the anchovy fillets.

In a medium sized pan add 3 tablespoons of oil, sauté the whole garlic cloves over medium heat until they are brown.

Add the chopped anchovies and using a fork, stir and squash them into the oil so they combine.

Crumble the chili into the oil.

Remove the garlic cloves and discard.

Stir the olives into the oil and cook for a couple of minutes, just long enough to mix all the flavors and set aside.

Frattempo:

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil and drop in the spaghetti.

Cook until ready, stirring from time to time to avoid the pasta sticking together.

Drain the pasta and turn out into a large, heated serving bowl.

Servire:

Add the olive sauce, bread crumbs and the remainder of the extra virgin olive oil to the pasta and gently combine until all of the pasta is coated and eat it immediately with a glass or two of Crifo Brut metodo tradizionale and some hungry friends.