You can fiddle around with the amount of anchovies and crushed red pepper according to what makes you happy. The roasted peppers are nice and I bet there is an open jar of them on your refrigerator door waiting to be used.
Makes 2 serving
¼ pound (i.e. ¼ box) spaghetti or linguine
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 anchovy fillets
2 small cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 big pinches crushed red pepper
¼ cup diced roasted red peppers (bottled are good in a pinch), optional
5-ounce package baby spinach, washed and spun dry
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Heat a large pot of generously salted water to boiling over high heat.
Heat the oil and anchovy in a heavy large skillet over medium heat just until the anchovies begin to fall apart. Add the garlic and red pepper and reduce the heat to low. Fry just until the garlic begins to turn golden brown around the edges, about 4 minutes. Stir in the roasted peppers if you’re going that way and the spinach. When the spinach starts to wilt, turn the heat to very low.
Add the pasta to the boiling water and stir for the first couple of minutes so it doesn’t stick together. Cook until the pasta is tender but firm in the center, about 6 minutes.
When the pasta is done the way you like it, you can take your pick: Fish out the spaghetti with a pair of long tongs and add it right to the pan with the sauce (see Doing the Pasta Three Step) or scoop out a coffee mugful of cooking water and drain the pasta in a colander. In either case make sure the spaghetti ends up in the pan and you have some pasta water on hand. Stir in enough of the liquid to coat the pasta lightly. Add the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Toss the pasta again and tong it into nice warm bowls.