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Rachel Roddy’s recipe for linguine with white fish and citrus juice | A kitchen in Rome
A simple pasta supper of linguine with white fish in lemony, garlicky oil – just remember to start slowly …
Driving, jogging, dancing, convincing … Starting from cold is rarely a good idea. Except in some cooking, and especially olive oil in a pan. And especially for someone like me, who for years often began cooking by plonking a frying pan on a flame, pouring in olive oil, adding chopped garlic or soffritto, then marvelling as the little bits seized like cotton in a flame and turned into bitter crisps. Even when I tried to be cautious, lowering the flame and my eyes, there was still a good chance of burned edges. And it always felt like a race.
The solution arrived like an airdrop; two words, from the cook and teacher Fabrizia Lanza. Start cold. That is, put the oil, garlic, chilli and zest in the pan away from the heat, away from the stove, on the other side of the room, if need be. Because, of course, it isn’t really cold, but room and hand temperature – ideal for getting things started, a pre-warm-up warm-up, if you like. Only when all the elements are ready, and you have put a pan of water on for the pasta, does the pan go on a low flame. In the case of today’s recipe for linguine with white fish and citrus, a really low flame. The lowest of the low, so the volatile oils and scents in a clove of garlic (peeled and crushed gently with the flat of a knife), a small dried red chilli or pinch of dried red chilli flakes and the freshly grated zest of an unwaxed lemon and an orange can infuse six tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil and the room.
UK readers: click to buy these ingredients from Ocado
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