Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

  So this weekend I decided to try out the curiously named Spaghetti alla Puttanesca. If you trawl the internet for this dish, you’ll find it variously described as whore-style pasta or slut’s spaghetti. Now, puttana literally translated from the Italian does mean a tart, but I cannot figure out why this dish is named so!

The sauce for this pasta dish is a fiery red tomato sauce – the heat comes from red chilli flakes and capers. I used only chilli flakes since I didn’t have any capers on hand. 

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You’ll need:

• 300g Spaghetti (I use Barilla)
• 500g Tomatoes, grated
• 3-4 cloves of Garlic, chopped
• 8-10 pitted black Olives, chopped
• 5g red Chilli flakes (adjust as per your taste)
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive Oil
• Parsley to garnish (optional)

How to:

• Put the water on boil for the pasta and add some salt. You don’t need to add any olive oil – that’s a myth.
• Add the garlic and fry lightly.
• Add the grated tomatoes and cook them down. Also add the red chilli flakes, salt and pepper. Add only half of the salt that you would normally use since the anchovies are quite salty.
• Once the sauce is almost cooked, add the olives and stir them in. Turn off the heat and let the sauce sit for a bit.
• Meanwhile, the water for the pasta should have started boiling. Add the spaghetti and cook as per packet instructions. Reserve ½ a cup of the starchy water and drain the spaghetti. Add a bit of olive oil and toss.
• Mix the spaghetti and the sauce, adding just enough of the reserved water to the sauce to help it coat the spaghetti well.
• Garnish with parsley.

  Buon appetito!