1.  If they are not already toasted, preheat your oven to 325 degrees to toast the hazelnuts. While the oven is heating, place the hazelnuts on a baking sheet. When the oven is ready, place the pan with the hazelnuts on the center rack of the oven and toast for 10 - 12 minutes or just until the hazelnuts begin to become fragrant. Immediately remove the hazelnuts from the oven and set them aside to let them cool to room temperature.

2.  Once the hazelnuts have cooled, in a food processor, add the walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, parsley leaves and orange zest. Pulse the ingredients until they are a uniform mixture similar to the size of the bread crumbs.

3.  Add the bread crumbs, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, salt and pepper to the processor and pulse the mixture again until all ingredients are evenly distributed throughout and everything is roughly the same size.

 

 

 

4.  Pour the mixture into a bowl, cover it and place it into the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight so that the flavors meld together.

5.  When you are ready to prepare the pasta, remove the bread crumb mixture from the refrigerator.

6.  Prepare the water for the spaghetti according to the manufacturer's instructions.

7.  While you wait for the water for the pasta to boil, add 1/2 cup of olive oil to a large sauté pan and heat over medium heat. Add the garlic clove and the bay leaf to the pan to give the oil flavor as it heats.

8.  When the oil around the garlic clove begins to sizzle, add the bread crumb mixture to the pan along with the raisins and sauté the mixture thoroughly until the bread crumbs have absorbed the oil and the oil is evenly distributed throughout the bread crumbs.

9.  When the water for the pasta is boiling, add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook according to the manufacturer's instructions.

10.  As the pasta cooks, continue sautéing the bread crumbs until they are a golden brown throughout. Lower the heat if the pan gets too hot so that the bread crumbs do not burn.

11.  Remove and discard the garlic and the bay leaf from the bread crumb mixture just before the bread crumbs are finished cooking.

12.  When the pasta has finished, strain it from the cooking water and place into your serving dish. Toss the spaghetti with 1 - 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

13.  Add 2/3 of the toasted bread crumb mixture to the pasta and toss the pasta again so that it is thoroughly coated with the bread crumbs and the raisins are distributed throughout the pasta.

14.  Top the pasta with the last 1/3 of the bread crumb mixture and serve.

Notes

- This is a very traditional recipe from the region of Molise in southern Italy and is highly personalized by each family to their own tastes and traditions. The recipe above is just one of many variants for this dish, and you can customize it to your tastes and/or the ingredients you have on hand.