buttons and pie: recipe: anchovy and onion pasta

This is my favorite pasta dish. It's so flavorful and is perfect for warm weather. It is a bit time consuming, but it's well worth it.

anchovy and onion pasta (adapted from alexandra cooks)
(This recipe makes a whole lot of pasta. I can get five (very large) servings out of it.)
ingredients:

1.5 lbs pasta
2 onions
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
hunk of Italian bread (enough for about 1 cup of breadcrumbs)
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
7-8 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
1 cayenne pepper, finely chopped ( you can remove the seeds if you would like it less spicy)
3/4 cup plus 4 tbsp olive oil
3-4 tbsp fresh basil chiffonade
salt and pepper

Slice onions about half an inch thick. Heat two tbsp olive oil over medium-low heat and add onions, brown sugar and vinegar. Cook until caramelized, stirring frequently (about 20-30 minutes). Remove from pan.

Put bread into a food processor and pulse until you have breadcrumbs. Alternately, toast bread and rip into small pieces (I do this when I don't feel like breaking out the food processor). Put breadcrumbs in bowl and season with salt and pepper. Heat two tbsp olive oil over medium heat in the pan you cooked the onions in. Add seasoned breadcrumbs and stir until crisp. Scrape the bottom of the pan while you are stirring to get the flavor from the onions.

Meanwhile bring pot of water to a boil, salt heavily, and add pasta. Cook until done.

While pasta is cooking, put 3/4 cup of olive oil to a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add chopped garlic and anchovies. Cook, stirring frequently, until most of the anchovies have dissolved (5-8 minutes).