Quick Pasta with Baccalà Mantecato

Name: Quick Pasta with Baccalà Mantecato
Yield: for 1 pound of pasta or gnocchi
Ingredients: 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 3 plump garlic cloves, sliced (about 1/4 cup); 1 pinch to 1/2 teaspoon dried peperoncino (hot red pepper flakes); 1 cup or more Baccalà Mantecato (preceding recipe); Hot water from the pasta-cooking pot; 1/4 teaspoon salt, or more to taste; Freshly ground black pepper; 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

December 14, 2011

A great way to enjoy baccalà mantecato, before you eat it all as a spread or dip, is as a dressing for cooked pasta; 1 cup is enough to make a flavorful sauce for a pound of spaghetti, other long dry pasta, or fresh maltagliati pasta, which my father always liked. It is also good to dress potato gnocchi. Transforming the baccalà mantecato into a pasta sauce is best done in a big skillet—14 inches in diameter—into which you can drop all the pasta, straight from the cooking pot, and dress it—see the first part of chapter 3 for the basics of skillet sauces and how pasta and sauce are finished together.

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