Gilda Pasta

One for the pickle lovers

Gildas are a beautifully crafted bit of food magic - one of many basque pintxos (a Spanish bar snack) consisting of an olive, an anchovy and a pickled chilli (guindillo) pepper on a skewer, designed to be eated in 1 mouthful, hitting salty, spicy and refreshing notes all at the same time.

Invented in San Sebastián in the 1940s, customers started combining these 3 snacks together and the gilda was born. Over the years, in various parts of northern Spain, I’ve experienced bars and restaurants putting their own spin on the gilda, sometimes combining pieces of cured meats and cheeses along with pickle or brined elements.

For anyone who loves brined and pickled foods, I’ve fleshed out this concept into a main meal by making it into a pasta dish.

So let’s get into it!

FULL RECIPE

Ingredients (serves 2)

200-250g dried spaghetti - cooked to 3 mins under packet instructions (we will finish cooking the spaghetti in the sauce)

50ml extra virgin olive oil

3 tinned anchovies

5 garlic cloves - finely chopped

8 green olives - sliced

2-3 guindilla peppers (or pickled chillies) - sliced

2 jarred roasted peppers - chopped into 1cm dice

1 lemon - zested, juice reserved

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

50g parmsan - grated

Method:

Start by prepping the ingredients then get the pasta into some boiling salted water.

Meanwhile, warm the olive oil in a large frying pan or casserole pan, add the anchovies and let them gently sizzle and melt into the oil. Add the garlic, keeping the pan on low and let that slowly infuse, being careful not to burn the garlic.

Once the garlic has softened and is incredibly fragrant, add the olives and both peppers with the zest of the lemon and the smoked paprika.

Let that sizzle and infuse together for a couple of minutes then take a ladle of pasta water and add to the pan to stop the frying.

Drag the pasta over when it’s a few minutes undercooked with some more pasta water.

Grate in the parmesan with another little bit of pasta water and give everything a good toss around the pan, allowing the pasta water to emulsify with the fats, creating a glossy saucy consistency.

Add a splash of the reserved lemon juice and taste for seasoning.

Time to serve up - pile into bowls making sure you include lots of the gilda mixture.

I made a few actual gildas on skewers to add to the top, to create the full experience. Enjoy!