Pasta Puttanesca
Puttanesca sauce is a tomato sauce which is spicy and bold in flavor. Spicy from red pepper flakes. Salty and bold in flavor from anchovies, olives, and capers. Even if you think you do not like anchovies or olives, it is worth a try—the anchovies melt and the olives mellow. Best of all, it is a simple sauce that cooks while the pasta cooks. One further note: the heat of the red pepper flakes is easily adjusted—try starting with ¼ teaspoon. Originally served as part of: Mom's Puttanesca.
Ingredients
- ⅓ pound dried, whole wheat linguine pasta
- 2 cloves garlic
- 10 medium black, olive-cured olives
- ½ tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 large from jar, in oil anchovies (drained)
- 1 tablespoon in brine capers (drained)
- 1 teaspoon or to taste red pepper flakes
- 1 28 ounce can organic, whole, peeled tomatoes (Muir Glen)
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh, Italian-leaf parsley (cleaned and chopped)
- Parmigiano-reggiano cheese (freshly grated)
Instructions
We start by putting a large pot of water on the stove, covering it, and heating it to cook the pasta.
Meanwhile, we smash the garlic cloves with the side of our knife (carefully), discard the peels, add a pinch of salt, and mince. In the same way, we pit the olives by carefully smashing them with the side of our chef knife and discarding the pits. The olives are chopped; yielding ¼ cup.
In a large sauté pan, we heat the oil over medium-low heat with the garlic and anchovies. When the garlic starts to sizzle and is fragrant and the anchovies are melting into the oil, we add the olives, capers, and red pepper flakes. We stir for a minute and add the liquid from the can of tomatoes. The tomatoes themselves are left in the can and puréed with our immersion blender before adding them to the sauce.
The heat on the sauce is raised as the water for cooking the pasta comes to a boil. We add a pinch of salt and the linguine to the water, stir, and cook according to the package directions.
The sauce is gently simmered and, right before the pasta is drained, we taste the sauce for seasoning. We add some freshly ground black pepper and parsley. The drained pasta is put back in the large pasta pot and some of the sauce is ladled in.
We toss the pasta to coat it with the sauce and serve it topped with additional sauce and some parmesan.
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic
- salt
- 10 medium oil-cured black olives
- ½ tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 large anchovies in oil (drained)
- 1 tbsp capers in brine (drained)
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes (start with ¼ tsp)
- 1 28-oz can whole peeled tomatoes (Muir Glen)
- ⅓ lb whole wheat linguine
- black pepper (freshly ground)
- 2 tbsp fresh Italian parsley (chopped)
- Parmigiano-Reggiano (freshly grated)
Instructions
Put a large covered pot of water on to boil.
Grown-up
Smash, peel and mince the garlic with a pinch of salt. Smash the olives with the side of the knife to pop out the pits, and chop them (about ¼ cup).
Heat the oil with the garlic and anchovies in a large sauté pan over medium-low until the garlic sizzles and the anchovies melt. Add the olives, capers and pepper flakes and stir 1 minute.
Grown-up
Pour in the juice from the can, then purée the tomatoes right in the can with an immersion blender and add them. Raise the heat.
When the water boils, salt it and cook the linguine following the package. Keep the sauce at a gentle simmer.
Just before draining, taste the sauce and add pepper and parsley. Return the pasta to its pot, toss with some sauce, and serve topped with more sauce and cheese. Even anchovy skeptics should try it; they melt away.