Scungilli Marinara. So little effort, so much pleasure.
They used to serve it at Patsys’s in Paterson. We were ordering it with our eyes closed. Every. Single. Time. Then there was “sorry, not today,” then — “no, this month we didn’t get any,” then it was off the menu altogether. Now it is “scungilli who? what are you talking about?”
It took me about 20 years to realize that if I can cook, I can make it at home. Better late but here it is!
There is an advantage to eating it at home by the way. Instead of daintily dipping a piece of bread and hoping to catch a piece of conch before the server yanks the plate with leftover sauce away, you can just spoon it up like soup with no reservations, wiping up the last drop with a slice of home baked sourdough. Yes, you can have it over pasta, but why? Such a pleasure scooping this goodness up just like that.
Where is my big spoon?
WHAT WENT IN AND THE PROCESS
— 1/2 cup olive oil
— 6 large garlic cloves sliced
— 4 anchovies
— 1 tsp dried oregano
— 1 tsp salt
— 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
— 1 Tbsp Calabrian chilies
— 1/4 cup dry vermouth
— 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
— 14 os can fire roasted diced tomatoes
— 5-6 large twigs of fresh basil
— 29 oz can scungilli, rinsed under the cold water
1. Add garlic to the cold oil and slowly get it to the blond color over low heat.
2. Melt in anchovies.
3. Stir in salt, pepper, oregano, Calabrian chilies.
4. Add wine and let it disappear.
5. Add tomatoes and basil and cook on medium for about 30 minutes.
6. Once the sauce cools off, fish the basil out and squeeze whatever clings to it back into the pot.
7. Just before you’re ready to eat, add scungilli and warm it up for about 5 minutes.