Recipe: The Caramelised Shallot Pasta That (Maybe) Changed Alison Roman’s Life

“To say this recipe changed my life might be a bit dramatic, but it also might be true,” writes Alison Roman of this jammy, intensely savoury and thoroughly phenomenal pasta dish, which features in her new cookbook, Something from Nothing.

Though the book is brimming with a stack of new recipes designed to make tablescapers swoon, this one’s a deep cut from the Roman repertoire. And indeed, it was a phenomenon – becoming The New York Times’ most popular recipe of 2020 and achieving bonafide hashtag status (#thepasta) during the pandemic when home-cooking became a cultural moment.

But the dish was also a statement of intent from Roman, whose whole brand was built on the idea of approachable luxury and flavour over technique. If you’re among the millennial cohort that likes cooking à la Roman (guilty), chances are you’ve probably got these ingredients lying around. All you gotta do is cook them down into umami magnificence.

“I’m grateful so many people love a little skillet of caramelised shallots, a tin of anchovies and a whole lot of tomato purée as much as I do.”

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Alison Roman’s caramelised shallot pasta

Serves: 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

60ml olive oil
6 large shallots (about 350g), very thinly sliced
5 garlic cloves, divided (4 thinly sliced, 1 finely chopped)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp chilli flakes, plus more to serve
60g tin anchovy fillets (about 12), drained
125g–185g passata or tomato purée
350g–450g dried pasta, preferably a long, thin noodle like bucatini or spaghetti
1 handful parsley, tender leaves and stems, finely chopped
Flaky sea salt

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or casserole (Dutch oven) over a medium-high heat. Add the shallots and sliced garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots have become completely softened and caramelised with golden-brown fried edges, 15–20 minutes.

Add the chilli flakes and anchovies. (No need to chop the anchovies; they will dissolve on their own.) Stir to melt the anchovies into the shallots, about 2 minutes.

Add the tomato purée and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly to prevent any scorching, until the tomato purée has started to cook in the oil a bit, caramelising at the edges and going from bright red to a deeper brick-red colour, about 2 minutes.

Remove from the heat and transfer about half of the mixture to a resealable container, leaving the rest behind. (These are your leftovers to be used elsewhere: in another batch of pasta, smeared onto roasted vegetables, spooned over fried eggs or spread underneath crispy chicken thighs.)

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Cook the pasta until very al dente (perhaps more al dente than usual). Save 480ml of pasta water, then drain the pasta. Transfer the pasta to the pot with the remaining shallot mixture (or a skillet if you are using the leftover portion) and 250ml of pasta water.

Cook over a medium-high heat, swirling the skillet to coat each piece of pasta and using a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape up any bits on the bottom, until the sauce is reduced and a little sticky, perfectly coating each strand of pasta, 3–5 minutes (you can always add a splash or two more pasta water if you need it).

Combine the parsley and the finely chopped garlic in a small bowl and season with flaky salt and pepper. Divide the pasta among bowls or transfer to one large serving bowl and top with the parsley mixture and a few more chilli flakes if you like.

This is an edited extract from Something from Nothing by Alison Roman, published by Quadrille. Available in stores now. Photography by Chris Bernabeo.