Ingredients

The following ingredients have 1 Servings
  • One piece dried-out, day-old bread, preferably baguette
  • 2 to 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (plus lots more for drizzling)
  • 3 to 4 garlic cloves (minced)
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarsely crushed fennel seeds
  • Salt, to taste
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • Generous pinch red pepper flakes
  • 4 ounces spaghetti, linguine, or other similarly shaped pasta
  • Chunk pecorino Romano (for grating (optional))

Instruction

  • Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
  • Cook the pasta until just al dente (usually a little less time than the package instructions indicate).
  • Using a serrated knife, carefully saw the baguette, if using, into thin slices. Using your fingers, crumble the bread to create a nice mixture of coarse and fine crumbs.
  • Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the crumbs and gently fry them, stirring occasionally and letting them slowly take on color. (You may need to add up to 2 more tablespoons oil to the skillet, depending on just how many bread crumbs you have.)
  • When the bread crumbs are golden and crisp, add the garlic and fennel seeds, stir, and cook for a minute or so more. Season the crumbs quite generously with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Remove from the heat.
  • Drain the pasta, reserving the cooking water. You don't need to be obsessive about draining the pasta until no water clings to the strands; in fact you want just a touch of the pasta water to cling to the pasta.
  • Toss the pasta in the skillet with the bread crumb mixture. Drizzle with oil—preferably quite a lot more oil for the best results. If the mixture seems dry, add a dribble of the pasta cooking water. If using, sprinkle with grated pecorino Romano to taste.