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What is there to say about this dish and its
"colourful" name? The puttanesca sauce is a hot, flavour packed sauce that is
usually served with spahetti and has its origin in South Italy.
The name "puttanesca" refers to the ladies of the night
and one of the many different stories, that claims the origin of this dish, is
that pasta was served with this sauce to the clients of one brothel in the city
of Naples as "appetizer"!
Another story claims that the dish has been created on the isle of Ischia, set
in the bay of Naples, by a local artist called Eduardo Colucci, for his visiting
friends, immediately after WW2.
Then, there is another trail of claims that say that
the recipe is from Rome and not from Naples.
Looking at the Ingredients (tomatoes, garlic, anchovies, olives, capers etc.) I
believe that the true origins of the dish are from a coastal area of South
Italy, probably in and around Naples, no matter what story is behind it. It's an
easy dish to prepare and I would stick with the most traditional way to do it so
that you will be sure to have a perfect balance between the Ingredients.
Last but not least, stay away from the temptation of
using Parmesan or Pecorino cheese (you would spoil the flavours) and do not use
herbs like oregano or basil (it won't be a puttanesca!). SERVES 4
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- 400 g (14 oz) Spaghetti (cooked
"al dente" - see
How to cook perfect spaghetti)
- 75 ml (3 fl oz) Extra virgin
Olive Oil
- 2 Cloves of garlic (crushed)
- 5 or 6 Anchovy fillets
- 40 g (2 � oz) Capers (buy the
ones preserved in salt)
- 110 g (4 oz) Pitted black
olives (buy the ones preserved in brine)
- 350 g (12 oz) Chopped tomatoes
- 1 Whole dried or fresh red
chilli (alternatively use � tsp of chilli flakes)
- Salt for seasoning
- A small handful of flat leaf
parsley (roughly chopped)
Note: about the olives, you can
also use 50% black olives and 50% green olives. Directions
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1:Start rinsing the anchovy fillets under running water, then
pat them dry with kitchen paper 2:Repeat the above procedure with the capers. Capers comes in
different sizes; if yours are big then you can roughly chop them (in this recipe
I used tiny capers so I did not chop them).
3:Take
the olives and cut them into rounds. Last, chop the parsley and set it aside;
you will use it only at the end to garnish. Now, that the Ingredients are ready,
we start with the sauce preparation.
4:Put the Olive Oil into the pan and heat the oil
on medium/low heat. Crush the garlic with the blade of your knife and add it
into the pan. 5:Sweat the garlic off for few minutes until it is golden in
colour, then remove it from the pan and discard it. Try to tilt the pan on one
side and move the garlic around with a wooden spoon; it helps flavouring the
oil.
6:Now, move your pan away from the heat and wait for about a
minute to slightly cool the oil down. Then, add the anchovy fillets.7:Using
a wooden spoon stir and break the fillets down until they have dissolved
8:Bring the pan back onto the heat, add the
capers and the black olives
9:Give a good stir for few seconds until the oil
is hot again.10:Next, add the tomatoes 11:stir 12:Add the peperoncino and stir for few seconds.13:Now,
cook on low heat for 15 minutes. 14:After
10 minutes, check for salt and season according to taste.
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