Welcome to the wild side of Italian cuisine with Spaghetti alla Puttanesca! This dish is saucy, spicy, and rebellious. Tomatoes, olives, capers, anchovies and chili peppers join forces to create this loved Italian sauce. When this pasta is on your plate, boring dinners are a thing of the past.
Ingredients list:
- Red hot chili peppers (better if fresh alternatively you can use chili flakes);
- Anchovy fillets;
- Black Olives;
- Capers;
- Garlic;
- Parsley;
- Tomato sauce;
- Salt;
- Extra virgin olive oil.
Alright, cooking comrades, here’s the lowdown on Spaghetti alla Puttanesca:
- Scrub your ingredients until they shine;
- Chop it up – chili peppers, parsley, olives, and some garlic cloves. You can keep the garlic whole and give it the boot later if you prefer;
- Pan, prepare for action! Heat things up with extra virgin olive oil, then toss in the garlic, anchovies, capers, and both the whole and chopped olives;
- When the garlic’s looking golden and the anchovies are playing hide and seek, it’s time to shake things up! Add tomato sauce, chili pepper (or its spicy sibling, chili flakes), and just a hint of salt (remember that those olives, capers, and anchovies bring their own saltiness to the party). Let the flavors mingle for 15-20 minutes on a cozy, low-medium heat. Don’t forget to stir.
- While the sauce is getting saucier you can start boiling some water for the pasta. Remember to add salt to the water.
- Add some color by throwing the parsley into the pan and some directly on the dish!
Oh, and for those who dare, there is the heretical option of grated cheese – Pecorino, Grana or Parmigiano. But us, the purists, savor it just as it is, untamed and tradition-rich.
15 Minutes Puttanesca Sauce
Print RecipeIngredients
- 320g - Spaghetti (or another kind of pasta)
- 500g - Tomato Sauce
- 1 - Red hot chili pepper (or chili flakes)
- 1 or 2 - Garlic Cloves
- 100g - Olives
- 10g - Capers
- 3 or 4 - Anchovy Fillets
- A pinch - Salt
- To taste (but enough to lightly fry the ingredients) - Extra virgin olive oil.
Instructions
1. Wash the ingredients thoroughly;
2. Chop up chili peppers, parsley, some of the olives and one or two garlic cloves (you can keep them whole and remove them later if you prefer);
3. Heat up the pan with some extra virgin olive oil; then throw in the garlic, anchovies, capers and the olives (both whole and chopped);
4a. When the garlic starts to get brown and the anchovy begin to “dissolve” add the tomato sauce, chili pepper (or chilli flakes) and salt to the pan (just a pinch of salt, remember that olives, capers and anchovies are already very salty on their own) and give it a good swirl. Let it mingle for 15 to 20 minutes on low-medium heat. Stir it up every now and then;
4b. While the sauce is going start boiling some water (with some salt) for the pasta
5. Add the parsley to the sauce;
