SIMPLE DISH, EXQUISITE TASTE
Celebrity chef offers her refined take
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Pasta Puttanesca has a saucy provenance as a late night dish made with whatever is on hand — in this case tomatoes, olives and anchovies — and a dubious backstory involving sex workers. In The Home Cook, chef Alex Guarneschelli recalls: “When I was working at restaurants in Paris, I used to get off work really late — as did a whole group of other young cooks, all of us ironically starving after cooking food all night. This was a dish I often made for my fellow cooks after rifling through my kitchen cabinets. I loved juxtaposing sophisticated three-star Michelin cuisine with this Italian peasant dish.”
1⁄2 cup (125 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
2 1⁄2 tsp (12 mL) drained capers 2 tsp (10 mL) crushed red pepper flakes
8 garlic cloves, minced
6 canned anchovy fillets, finely chopped
1 cup (250 mL) black olives, pitted and roughly chopped 1 28-ounce (796 mL) can whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes Kosher salt
1 pound dried linguine pasta
1. Method: In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. When it starts to get hot, add capers and let them bubble and fry gently in the oil until crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. When the capers start to float, add the red pepper flakes and garlic. Cook until garlic is translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in anchovies and olives. Pour tomatoes, with their juices, over mixture and crush some of the tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon. Allow sauce to simmer over medium heat until all of the flavours meld together, 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook pasta: In a large pot, bring 6 quarts (6 L) water to a rolling boil and add 1⁄2 cup (125 mL) salt. The pasta water should taste like sea water. Add pasta to the boiling water and stir so it doesn’t stick to the bottom as it cooks. Cook pasta until it is al dente (chewy but not hard or raw tasting), 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta in a colander, reserving a little of the pasta water in case you need it to adjust the sauce.
3. Transfer sauce to a warmed serving bowl and add pasta. Toss to blend. Add some of the reserved pasta water if needed to create a sauce that lightly coats the pasta. Taste for seasoning. Serve immediately.