Pasta Puttanesca
Naples-style sauce of tomatoes, anchovies, capers, olives and garlic, traditionally served over spaghetti. The bold-flavoured "anything in the cupboard" pasta. Etymology disputed; the name translates as "whore-style" with several origin stories of varying credibility.
Overview
Anchovies dissolve into hot olive oil with garlic and chilli; tomatoes simmer briefly with capers and black olives; the lot tosses with hot spaghetti. Twenty minutes from cupboard to plate. The salty, savoury, briny depth comes from ingredients that keep almost forever.
Ingredients
- 400 g spaghetti
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 anchovy fillets in oil (drained)
- 4 garlic cloves (sliced)
- ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
- 2 tablespoons capers in brine (rinsed)
- 100 g pitted black olives (Kalamata or similar, halved)
- 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes (or 6 ripe tomatoes, chopped)
- A handful of flat-leaf parsley (chopped, to finish)
- salt
- pepper
Method
Stage 1 - Pasta
- Bring a large pan of well-salted water to the boil.
- Add the spaghetti; cook to al dente, about 2 minutes shy of the packet time.
Stage 2 - Sauce
- While the pasta boils, heat the olive oil in a wide pan over medium-low heat.
- Add the anchovy fillets and stir until they dissolve into the oil (1-2 minutes).
- Add the garlic and chilli flakes; cook 1 minute (don't brown the garlic).
- Add the capers and olives; cook another minute.
- Tip in the tomatoes; simmer for 8-10 minutes until thickened slightly. Don't season with salt yet (the anchovies, capers and olives bring plenty).
Stage 3 - Combine
- Lift the pasta into the sauce with tongs (don't fully drain; the starchy water helps).
- Add a splash of pasta water; toss vigorously over medium heat for 1-2 minutes until the sauce coats every strand.
- Taste; adjust with salt only if needed.
- Stir through most of the parsley.
Stage 4 - Serve
- Pile into bowls; scatter the rest of the parsley. Drizzle with a little olive oil.
Notes
- Anchovies dissolve: They don't taste of fish in the finished dish; they taste of savoury depth. Don't skip them.
- No cheese: Traditionally puttanesca isn't served with parmesan; the sauce is too salty for it.
- Don't drain the pasta into a sieve: Lift with tongs so the starchy water clings to the pasta and helps the sauce emulsify.
Storage
- Keeps 2 days refrigerated. Reheats reasonably with a splash of water; the pasta loses some bite.
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