Your email address is required to begin the subscription process. We will use it for customer service and other communications from Milk Street. You can unsubscribe from receiving our emails at any time.
Rigatoni with Cherry Tomatoes and Anchovies
At Osteria ai Promessi Sposi in Venice, Italy, chef Claudio Furlanis taught us how to make a dish of his own creation—pasta tossed with cherry tomatoes, sautéed onion and anchovies. Furlanis briefly roasted the tomatoes to render them soft and juicy and to concentrate their flavor before introducing them to the other ingredients. The umami quotient was deliciously high from the tomatoes and anchovies, and with the sauce cooked into the pasta until the noodles were perfectly al dente, each bite was extraordinarily satisfying and flavor-filled. This recipe is our adaptation of his dish. We swapped rigatoni or ziti for the very large, short, tube-shaped noodles we had in Venice and added some garlic and pepper flakes for a little pungency. We also like to finish the pasta with grated Parmesan.
4 to 6
Servings
Tip
Don’t use more than 6 cups of water to boil the pasta. The amount is scant, but intentionally so in order to create a starchy liquid to use later, when saucing the noodles. Also, be sure to drain the pasta when it’s shy of al dente. It will finish cooking directly in the sauce, where it absorbs lots of flavor.
30 minutes
Ingredients
-
2
pints cherry or grape tomatoes
-
6
tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Directions
-
01Heat the oven to broil with a rack about 6 inches from the element. Line a broiler-safe rimmed baking sheet with foil. In a large bowl, toss together the tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of the oil and ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture, including the oil, to the prepared baking sheet and broil until the tomatoes are blistered and most have burst, 8 to 10 minutes; set aside.
Reviews
August 18, 2026
Easy and delicious
This is a great recipe. Cherry tomatoes under the broiler is a great method. Brings out sweetness of the tomatoes. Sauce is so tasty! Anchovies add great umami and no fishy flavour. We added chiffonade spinach for color (and didn't have basil on hand) and dolloped fresh ricotta on each serving for a bit of extra. Will make again. As my husband would say, "company worthy" (his seal of approval)
October 20, 2024
Quick easy dish great flavor!
This is my go to now. Have made this dish at least a dozen times, even made at a friend's house when visiting. I use more anchovies than the recipe calls for and it is still not overpowering but that it a personal preference. I add fresh basil as a garnish but also complements the dish as well.
September 17, 2024
Perfection
I love this pasta dish. It was easy and the flavors were spot on.
November 20, 2023
Fantastic and filling
This is a great dish for the anchovy lover, although it isn’t exactly “fishy” in any way. I like them, and I made this for myself, so I can’t speak for those hoping to try it on others that can’t stand anchovies. However, personally, I didn’t use cheese and I am glad that I didn’t.
November 7, 2023
Can be made vegetarian!
Instead of anchovies, we use 1/2 sheet of sushi nori put in a spice blender and 1.5 Tbs of umeboshi paste (though red or white miso would also work). Add those at the same time you'd normally add the anchovies. This dish is amazing. If the pasta instructions are too vague, we just cook the pasta in water for half the time on the box, and then drain it. When you finish cooking the pasta in the sauce, you start with the other half of the cook time on the box. You then control the final texture by just cooking a little longer (adding pasta water as needed) and tasting as you go. Also, my broiler doesn't roast the tomatoes in the 10 minutes, this suggests. Don't fear blackening the tomatoes a bit, that is flavor! In my oven we do 12 minutes and then turn them over (as best possible with small spheres) so there is more roasting on other sides. That will make sure they burst easily.
Hi Diane -
Cooking time for the pasta is going to depend on if you are using rigatoni, ziti or mezze rigati, which are all suggested pasta types for this recipe, but will all have slightly different cooking times. Instead we use a clue, "just shy of al dente," to indicate doneness. Just pull out a piece of pasta and taste. If it's just slightly undercooked and, when cut in half there is a small dot of uncooked pasta in the center, it's just shy of al dente. Hope that helps!
Best,
The Milk Street Team
Become A Subscriber To Rate and Review All Our Recipes.
Please Log in or join today for $1.
I made this tonight. It was ok .. not great. It was easy to make. I like the idea of having small tomatoes broil in the oven. Thanks for the recipe.