

The recipe I followed is from Basilicata and calls for anchovies. I’m a big anchovy fan and added anchovies to my pasta with breadcrumbs. Step 7 Cook the garlic and anchovies until the latter have ‘melted’. In fact, both fileja and ferricelli look more like rustic short bucatini. Many believe these kinds of pasta were the ancestors of today’s fusilli, although the original shape is very different to the fusilli most people buy today. Like ferricelli, fileja are also sometimes called ‘fusilli’.

Fileja from Calabria and Sicilian casarecce are two examples. There are a number of pasta types originally made with a ferretto in Southern Italy. Step 6 Sauté the anchovies and garlic in olive oil. Locally, they call this dish ferriciell cu la muddica or fusill’ cu’ muddia. In Basilicata, they traditionally make this recipe with ‘ferricelli’ like in the legend mentioned above. You can use orecchiette like in Puglia or spaghetti or bucatini as in Sicily and Calabria. In Italy, the type of pasta used in pasta with breadcrumbs depends on the region. Step 5 When the breadcrumbs are golden and crispy, remove from the pan. However, for pasta the breadcrumbs are usually fried in olive oil until they are golden and crispy.

This is the traditional type of breadcrumbs for this pasta recipe and most kinds of Italian meatballs (polpette). Mollica di pane is breadcrumbs made with just the inside of slices of bread that are a day or two old. This kind of breadcrumbs is quite fine and often made using both the crust and the crumb (the inside of the bread). In fact, ‘pangrattato’ translates to grated bread. Step 4 Fry the breadcrumbs in heated olive oil. Originally people made it by grating stale bread and then drying it or toasting it in the oven at a very low temperature. Pangrattato can be homemade or storebought. Italian recipes that include breadcrumbs refer to them as either pangrattato or mollica di pane. This is similar to the recipe below but using orecchiette pasta. In Puglia (and in Basilicata), you can find orecchiette ammollicate. It also often has peperoncino (Italian red chilli pepper) and sometimes parsley. In Calabria and Sicily, they usually make pasta with breadcrumbs with spaghetti or bucatini and include anchovies. You can also find pasta with breadcrumbs that has anchovies, raisins, or almonds. Other additional ingredients can be chopped tomatoes or even ragu, grated cheese or crushed/powdered local Senise peppers (peperone cruschi). In Basilicata, they make the simplest version of this recipe with just breadcrumbs, olive oil and garlic. Different versions of pasta with breadcrumbs. In fact, they are often called ‘the poor man’s cheese’! Step 2 Make the breadcrumbs using a food processor. It’s a recipe invented to not only use up stale bread but also to add flavour and bulk to what is a very simple dish.īreadcrumbs have long been used in Southern Italy in place of cheese. Or so the story goes! Step 1 Gather your ingredients bucatini or spaghetti, stale bread, anchovies, garlic, olive oil and parsley (optional)Ĭertainly, pasta with breadcrumbs is a very ancient dish that originated, like many others, in Italy’s cucina povera or peasant kitchen. She then served the pasta with crumbs of stale bread fried in oil. Rosina made a type of pasta locals call ferricelli using the ferretto. Seemingly in anticipation of a victory against the enemy, Mary gave the woman a ferretto (wire stick used to make pasta in the past) and told her the villagers would need food after the coming battle. Apparently, in 976 A.D., this dish was made by a shepherd’s wife called Rosina del Castellano to celebrate the victory of her villagers and the local Byzantine monks against Saracen invaders.Īccording to a story known as the legend of the ferricelli, Rosina was visited by the Virgin Mary the day before the battle. The origins of pasta with breadcrumbs.Īccording to food historians (or perhaps food legend), the first evidence of pasta with breadcrumbs dates back to the early Middle Ages to the town of Armento, in Basilicata. Also known as pasta ca’ muddica or pasta ammudicata, this simple recipe is popular and traditional in Basilicata, Sicily, Calabria and Puglia. Pasta with breadcrumbs, or pasta mollicata, is a signature dish in the Southern Italian kitchen. Perfect for weeknight meals and as a midnight pasta choice! Pasta mollicata.

This southern Italian classic can be on the table in 20-30 minutes and is so easy to make! Leave out the anchovies for a vegan/vegetarian version and add parsley, peperoncino or grated cheese if desired. One of the simplest, fastest, and yet most delicious pasta recipes has to be this pasta with breadcrumbs and anchovies.
