Description
Borrowed from a variety of sources, I think that the most prominent one was Jamie Oliver’s. There are a lot of ways to play with this, but in the end, it WILL be something that you crave, so you’d better write down what your favorite version is. We didn’t use tuna this time, but I included it in my recipe because we all thought we’d ‘need’ it next time – enjoy!
Ingredients
Pasta Puttanesca
1 lb. (454 g) really good spaghetti – if you can’t get your hands on fresh, then Riscossa or Barilla will definitely do
1/2 c. EACH finely diced red onion AND green onion
6 cloves of garlic, finely minced
2, 50 g tins of anchovies (in olive oil and sea salt), chopped
2–3 dry red chilies, crushed, or 1 t. red pepper flakes – optional
1 can (28 oz/796 mL) whole tomatoes, broken up
1/2 c. dry white wine
1 c. pitted kalamata olives, finely diced AND 1/2 c. capers, drained and rinsed
1 c. grape tomatoes, halved (if I have no actual tomatoes then I’ve also been well pleased by the results of adding in a 796 mL can of crushed tomatoes, especially if the spaghetti finishes it’s cooking in the sauce)
2 cans (184 g) tuna, drained – optional (I now regularly use 4 cans)
fresh basil and/or oregano and/or parsley for garnish
Instructions
Start a large pot of salted water to boil and heat up a large skillet. Add a splash of olive oil to the skillet and then the red onion, green onion, garlic and anchovies. Cook and stir until the onion has softened and then add in the chilies or red pepper flakes if using, followed by the can of tomatoes and white wine. Simmer for a good 5 to 10 minutes until the liquid has reduced considerably, continuing to break up the tomatoes as you go.
Add in the olives, capers, grape tomatoes and tuna (if using) and cook until all is heated through and the sauce is more paste than liquid – no matter how well you drain the pasta, there will still be enough water to add to the ‘sauce’ and help bring it all together. Cook the pasta as directed to al dente, drain it well, put it back into the pasta pot, scrape in every last drop of sauce, toss and serve. The only reason we had leftovers was because there was simply too much for all of us to eat!
- Category: Pasta, Tuna