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While the sauce cooks, make the pasta. Add the pasta to the boiling water, stir, and cook for about 3 minutes, or until it is a little bit under al dente. Drain through a colander, reserving ¼ cup pasta water.

Add the cooked pasta and reserved cooking water to the skillet with the sauce, turning the heat down to medium. Toss gently until the pasta has absorbed the sauce and is cooked to the al dente stage, 3 to 4 minutes more.

Serve the pasta in bowls with the lemon-panko topping and a drizzle of olive oil.

PAIRING: A Greco di Tufo, such as Feudi di San Gregorio 2007, Italy, or an Orvieto.

smoked sardines with piquillo pepper sauce

For the smoked sardines:

6 fresh sardines, head and tail

on, butterflied and deboned59

Extra-virgin olive oil, for

coating the sardines

Lemon juice, for rubbing on the

sardines

Salt and freshly ground pepper

½ cup apple wood or alder

wood chips

For the vegetables:

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 bunch escarole or curly frisée,

cut lengthwise into 4 equal

portions, core left intact

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 plum tomatoes, halved

3 cups high-heat vegetable oil

¼ cup finely ground cornmeal

1 cup cauliflower florets (small

ones—no bigger than 1 inch)

1 egg, beaten, mixed with ⅛

teaspoon Tabasco

2 tablespoons capers, drained

and dried on paper towels

For the piquillo pepper sauce:

2 piquillo peppers58

1 teaspoon sherry vinegar

¼ teaspoon cayenne

¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive

oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

I love it when two heads are better than one in the kitchen. I was cooking with my dear friend Jet and mentioned I wanted to try smoking some sardines. Without skipping a beat, she said we should deep-fry cauliflower florets as a textural contrast. I suggested dipping the cauliflower in a cornmeal batter before frying, and she followed with an idea to serve the dish with a smoked tomato and piquillo pepper sauce to bring together all the flavors. There is simply no way I would have put these particular ideas together on my own; collaboration is the engine behind innovative recipes. This dish is like no other—I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

SERVES 4

To prepare the sardines, rub the insides of the fish with a little olive oil and lemon juice and then season them inside and out with salt and pepper.

Smoke the sardines according to the directions on page 131, except that for this recipe, you’ll flip the sardines after only 3 minutes, smoking them for a total of about 6 minutes. When the sardines are done smoking, carefully transfer them to a plate, cover with aluminum foil, and keep warm.

To prepare the vegetables, rub the olive oil all over the escarole, season to taste with salt and pepper, and smoke for about 4 minutes, or until the leaves lightly brown around the edges. Set aside. Place the plum tomatoes cut side up on the grate to smoke for a total of 5 minutes. Reserve the tomatoes to make the sauce.

Heat the vegetable oil in a medium saucepan (the oil should be 2 inches deep) over medium-high heat until it measures 350ºF on a deep-fat thermometer, or a tester grain of cornmeal bubbles immediately to the surface. Season the cornmeal generously with salt and pepper. Set up a plate with the cauliflower, a bowl for the egg, a plate with the cornmeal, and a final plate for the coated cauliflower. With your hands, quickly dip the cauliflower florets into the beaten egg and then coat with the cornmeal. Fry the cauliflower for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the florets are browned and crisp-tender in the middle. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel-lined plate. Add the capers and fry just until they “bloom” open (you’ll see the sides wing out, and the capers will start to brown). Set aside.

To prepare the sauce, add the piquillo peppers, sherry vinegar, cayenne, smoked paprika, olive oil, and reserved smoked tomatoes to the bowl of a food processor. Purée until very smooth and season to taste with salt and pepper.

To serve, ladle some piquillo pepper sauce on each of 4 plates, lay some smoked escarole over