My fridge is becoming quite bare as I’m approaching a week away down in Puglia. So it is a good reason to cook puttensca today for lunch. The puttanesca sauce comes from Naples and refers to the “working ladies” that either had no time to cook, shop or the money to. It essentially consists of a “soffrito” of olive oil, onion, garlic, olives, anchiovies, capers and chilli, with a tin of tomatoes added. So this is my version, but like most pasta recipes, be flexible to what you’ve got on hand and your personal taste for the amounts used.
Pasta – use long style such as spaghetti, linguine etc and prepare according to the package instructions for 2 people. To a saucepan, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, half an onion finely diced, 1 bruised garlic clove, a handful black de-pitted olives, 2 tsp capers (if salted rinse first), 3 anchovy fillets and some chilli to your tasting. Sweat on medium heat (you don’t want to bbq the onions) and when the onions are translucent, add half a tin of canned tomatoes.
Allow the sauce to simmer away while the pasta cooks. When the pasta is ready, the sauce will be ready too. The longer you cook any tomato sauce, the better it will be though. After 20 minutes of simmering, it will start to turn slightly orange. This mean that some tasty chemical reactions have taken place – making the sauce more delicious.
As with most sauces, drain well your pasta when it is al dente, add to the sauce (or mix in the dry pot of the pasta, which ever has room) and mix through. Remove the garlic clove and serve with a hard cheese and extra olive oil.
Filed under: Napoli , anchovies, capers, garlic, olives, spaghetti, tomatoes
