Pasta Puttanesca a la Vrieslander
Source of Recipe
rec.food.cooking - Julian Vrieslander
List of Ingredients
One of the standard quick dinners at our house is Spaghetti alla
Puttanesca. I use an entire 2 ounce can of anchovies for one 28 ounce
can of whole tomatoes.
Rinse the anchovies in water to reduce the salt, and coarsely chop them.
Then they go into a pan with 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Cook on low
heat, stirring and poking them until they dissolve.
Turn up the heat and add 4 garlic cloves and one small dried chili, both
finely chopped. When the garlic starts to sizzle, add the tomatoes, a
teaspoon of dried oregano, and black pepper. Bring to a boil, stirring
and mashing the tomatoes. Then turn down the heat and simmer for 30
minutes, or until you get a thick, full-flavored sauce.
While the sauce is cooking, remove the pits from some good quality black
olives. I usually buy pitted Kalamatas from the deli counter at our
market, and cut them in half. A few minutes before you are ready to
serve, toss the olives and some capers into the sauce and stir.
This is my favorite pasta sauce. Even Cindy (my SO, and resident
nutritionist of RFC) likes it - and she usually hates anything that's
been near an anchovy. In fact, the sauce does not have any fishy
flavor. The anchovies just add a subtle savory (umami?) quality.
This recipe was adapted from The Classic Mediterranean Cookbook, by
Sarah Woodward. As written, the recipe calls for one cup of olives and
2 Tbs of capers, which I think is way too much. Sarah calls for 1 lb of
dry pasta, probably to feed 4. We use 1/2 lb of spaghetti for the two
of us, and the recipe produces just enough sauce.
The recipe's name translates as "whore's spaghetti". Sarah speculates
that it got this name because it goes together quickly with ingredients
from the pantry. Perfect for professionals who have little time to
cook, and who work at odd hours when the stores and restaurants are not
open.
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Julian VrieslanderRecipe
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