Spaghetti with marmite or even vegemite

"I haven't as yet found a child who doesn't like it." Anna del Conte

This dish created quite a storm in the UK when it was promoted by Nigella. She apparently is a massive admirer of an Italian lady called Anna del Conte - in fact she calls her her second mother in terms of cooking, and the recipe is from her.

"It sounds like the sloganising hyperbole of a junior publicist to say that anyone who cooks should have Anna's books, but it is the simple truth, along with the fact that she is, I'm telling you, the best writer on Italian food there is." Nigella Lawson

So maybe I'll start with Nigella and Anna del Conte. She wrote quite a long article in the Guardian about her and then I found a similar one written by Anna del Conte about Nigella. So it's a mutual admiration society. Which is kind of nice.

Anna del Conte is Italian - from Milan and has written a few books but she is not as well known as her compatriot Marcella Hazan, who I think is of the same era. Anna del Conte, however, has been living in England for many, many years, having married an Englishman I think, although the name sounds Italian. Maybe she kept her own. Her books are not widely available though. Well that's what Nigella said, but maybe Nigella telling the world about her has changed all that because Readings certainly has several. Must look next time I'm in there. There seem to be several revised editions although not of the one that is Nigella's favourite Entertaining all'Italia. Maybe I'll do an A Word From ... post on her one day. Nigella sums her influence up thus:

"she is really more of an Italian Jane Grigson. Her prose is considered and understated, her erudition illuminating yet underplayed. Above all, she understands that food has a context - historical, social, creative - but that this is nothing if recipes don't work. She is eminently reliable, the trustiest, most inspiring teacher. Every paragraph she writes is shot through with her sensibility, which mixes wryness, intellectual rigour and practical commonsense." Nigella Lawson

"I always think of Anna when I cook pasta, remembering her two ordinances: one, that the water you cook pasta in should be as salty as the Mediterranean; and two, that pasta should not be too officiously drained, but rather be "con la goccia", that's to say, with still some cooking water clinging to it, as this makes it easier to incorporate the sauce." Nigella Lawson

It's an interesting friendship.

Anyway in her memoir there is a recipe for spaghetti with marmite (see below), which, as Nigella says somewhere is a perfect marriage of British and Italian cooking. It's very simple and indeed the picture from Nigella's website at the top of the page looks, just like plain spaghetti, in spite of her saying you have to add plenty of Parmesan.

Spaghetti with marmite

375 grams spaghetti

50 grams unsalted butter

1 teaspoon marmite (or more to taste)

freshly grated parmesan cheese (to serve)

Cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water, according to the packet instructions.

When the pasta is almost cooked, melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the Marmite and 1 tablespoon of the pasta water, mixing thoroughly to dissolve. Reserve ½ cup of pasta water; then drain the pasta and pour the Marmite/Vegemite mixture over the drained spaghetti, adding a little reserved pasta water to amalgamate if required. Serve with plenty of grated Parmesan cheese.

As I say, it created a furore from the food snobs, and I must confess that I'm not hugely tempted because I don't like marmite, or vegemite. (Here in Oz it's made with vegemite - see left)). But lots of people also praise it. Here is Nigella's explanation of why she thinks it works, and I can sort of see her point.

"I know the combination of pasta and Marmite sounds odd to the point of unfeasibility, but wait a moment, there is a traditional day-after-the-roast pasta dish, in which spaghetti is tossed in stock, and I have eaten shortcut versions of this in Italy (recreated guiltlessly in my own kitchen) which use a crumbled stock cube, along with some butter, olive oil, chopped rosemary and a little of the pasta cooking water to make a flavoursome sauce for spaghetti. If you think about it, Marmite offers saltiness and savouriness the way a stock cube might." Nigella Lawson

I suppose, in a way, it would be a bit like adding a dash of Worcester Sauce - which Jamie loves to do, or lemon juice (Ottolenghi) or soy or fish sauce as the Asians do. Umami. That hidden surprise that makes something special.

And others have pounced on it and played with it a bit. I saw one pair who compared the marmite to bovril - a sort of similar product that is used to make gravy and drinks I think. They preferred the marmite. And as I say, you can use vegemite instead. Nigella did when she came to the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. You have to say the woman has nerve to serve up something like that at a food festival for gourmets.

Anyway here are two variations - not very surprising I guess but tempting.