Preparation Time:15 minutes
Cooking Time:time pasta cooking
Level of Difficulty:Easy
Servings:8

Ingredients

• 2 large onions  
• 2 cloves garlic  
• 5 tablespoons olive oil  
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar  
• 12 anchovy fillets or 1 x 60g can (total weight) in olive oil  
• 15g butter  
• tiniest pinch ground cloves  
• 1 tablespoon water  
• 125ml full-fat milk  
• 500g packet bigoli, bucatini, perciatelli or linguine or other long, robust pasta (see page 372)  
• 1 big bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Method

1. 1. Finely chop the onions and garlic. To be honest, I’d do this in the processor every time. It’s not just that it’s easier, but that it makes the onion meld into the sauce so well later. 
2. 2. Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan and cook the very finely chopped onion and garlic over a low heat until you have a soft, golden mush – about 10 minutes. Add the brown sugar (though white is fine too), stir it in and let the onion mixture cook for another minute or so. 
3. 3. Remove the anchovies from the tin, and chop them very finely; I use my mezzaluna for this. Add them to the onion mush, stirring until they begin to ‘melt’, then stir in the butter and the pinch of ground cloves, followed by a tablespoonful of water and when all is combined, gradually stir in the milk. When this has come together as a purée, take the pan off the heat. 
4. 4. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in abundant salted water according to the packet instructions, removing a ladleful of cooking liquid just before you drain it. 
5. 5. Tip the drained pasta into the anchovy and onion sauce and add the reserved cooking water to help lubricate the pasta. You may not need all of the water, so pour in gradually. Add some oil from the anchovy tin if you need it too. And, of course, if the pan isn’t big enough to take all the pasta, just put it back into the pan it was cooked in and pour the sauce over the top. 
6. 6. Sprinkle over most of the parsley, just roughly chopped, thoroughly turning the pasta in the pan to coat each strand in the anchovy sauce. Remove to a warm bowl, sprinkle over the remaining parsley and take to the table.