Pasta with Tomatoes, Anchovies and Garlic

At Trattoria La Cantineta in Ancona, Italy, chef Raffaele Attili taught us to make tagliolini ai sardoncini, in which he paired pasta with a simple but intensely flavored sauce of tomatoes, garlic and anchovies. (Sardoncini are sardines, but Attili opted for anchovies.) For our version, we blend a can of whole or diced tomatoes with their juices. Don’t use canned crushed or pureed tomatoes. These products taste tinnier and duller than whole or diced tomatoes, and have a thicker, heavier consistency. A generous amount of oil-packed anchovies disintegrates into the quick-cooking sauce and lends richness. In the finished dish, the sauce should cling tightly to the pasta with little pooling on the bottom.