Lemony Pasta With Kelp, Chile and Anchovies

- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- Kosher salt, as needed
- 1pound rigatoni or other pasta
- 4 to 8anchovy fillets, chopped
- 4large garlic cloves, finely grated or minced
- 1½teaspoons finely grated lemon zest, plus fresh lemon juice, to taste
- ¼teaspoon red-pepper flakes, or to taste
- ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
- ½cup/70 grams kelp purée or thawed kelp smoothie cubes (see Note)
- ½cup finely chopped parsley, plus more for serving
- 2tablespoons unsalted butter
Preparation
- Step 1
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until just shy of al dente, usually 1 to 2 minutes earlier than the cooking time suggested on the packaging. Reserve 1 cup pasta water, then drain pasta.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir together anchovies, garlic, lemon zest and red-pepper flakes to make a paste.
- Step 3
In a 12-inch skillet, heat ¼ cup oil over medium. Add anchovy paste and cook, stirring, until the anchovies begin to dissolve, about 2 minutes. Add kelp and cook, stirring, until slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in ½ cup parsley and the butter. Add the pasta and toss to coat. If the mixture seems dry, add some of the reserved pasta water, tossing to coat the pasta with sauce. Season with salt and lemon juice, to taste.
- Step 4
Garnish with more parsley, drizzle with oil, if desired, and serve immediately.
- Kelp purée and smoothie cubes are available from Atlantic Sea Farms (atlanticseafarms.com) and Ocean’s Balance (oceansbalance.com). Or if you have access to fresh kelp, blanch it first, then purée in a blender.
Private Notes
Comments
There are so many different types of kelp (at least in the japanese markets where I shop), would the kelp in here be equivalent to kombu?
Here's a hack: go to your local Japanese deli/restaurant takeout and get some seaweed salad... add the anchovies and lemon parts and you've got it!
To be fair, anchovies is protein
People with MSG allergies may be sensitive to all the (natural) glutamates in kelp / konbu. Made this with dulse and wakame - just soaked the dried seaweed for 5 min, drained, and puréed. It was a bit anchovy forward, not bad. Thought it was tasty, family did not enjoy.
Two things, Number one You can get puréed smoothie kelp at most high end fish markets. And number two this is so delicious and incredible it’s been a regular in our family for years!
This dish is simply divine, coupled with a fantastic glass of white! For Kelp, Kombu is the Japanese equivalent and I was able to find it at my local Whole Foods in the ethnic food section. A 40 g package of dry Kombu produced just a tad over 140 g purée. I soaked the dry Kombu in warm, salt water for about an hour then drained and chopped very finely to get my purée. I skipped the lemon juice and just doubled the sauce recipe instead. Coupled with made home-made pasta and it was magnificent.
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