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.

　　

Ingredients

for 1 pound of pasta or gnocchi

　　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

　　

Step 1

Start cooking your dry pasta in a big pot of salted water just before starting the sauce. If you are doing fresh pasta or gnocchi, don’t put it in until after you start the sauce.

　　

Step 2

Pour the oil in the skillet, scatter the garlic in the oil, and put the pan over medium heat. Get the garlic sizzling, but don’t let it get dark; stir it or shake the pan frequently. After a couple of minutes, sprinkle the pepper flakes in the oil, let them sizzle for a minute, then scrape in the baccalà spread and stir it well in the skillet.

　　

Step 3

Let the baccalà heat up for a few minutes; ladle 2 cups of boiling water from the pasta pot into the skillet and stir it, incorporating the baccalà mantecato, garlic, and oil into a thin sauce. Bring it to a boil, stirring, add the salt and pepper to taste, then adjust the heat to keep the sauce simmering actively until the pasta is almost al dente.

　　

Step 4

Add the drained pasta or gnocchi to the skillet, and toss to coat and finish cooking with the sauce (see page 92). Remove from the heat, toss with parsley, and serve.

　　From Lidia's Family table by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Copyright (c) 2004 by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Published by Knopf.Lidia Bastianich hosts the hugely popular PBS show, "Lidia's Italian-American kitchen" and owns restaurants in New York City, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh. Also the author of Lidia's Italian Table and Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen, she lives in Douglaston, New York. Jay Jacob's journalism has appeared in many national magazines.From the Trade Paperback edition.