Spaghetti alla puttanesca
Spaghetti alla puttanesca: Spaghetti alla puttanesca has a meaning not very nice! It may not be a surprise to those who know Italian, but the name of the famous dish literally means “bitch style spaghetti!”.
The dish was invented in the mid-20th century. However, there is no consensus on the true origin of the dish. The oldest known version of spaghetti alla puttanesca is in an Italian novel of 1961. A writer for an Italian newspaper says the puttanesca sauce was invented in the 50’s by Sandro Petti, co-owner of a popular restaurant on the island of Ischia.
Pasta puttanesca recipe is a native of Campania and it was adapted later in Lazio adding anchovies. Serving the sauce over spaghetti is the best-known variant of the recipe, but you can also use bucatini or penne, according to taste.
The puttanesca sauce stands out because it is very tasty containing a mix of anchovies, black olives and capers, in fact, these are the main ingredients. Chopped parsley sprinkled before serving, gives a note of freshness and color to the dish.
Puttanesca Serves 2 – 4
- 400 grams The Big Dream Factory spaghetti italiano
- 400 grams fresh cherry tomatoes, chopped (or tinned chopped)
- 100 grams black (Gaeta) olives, sliced into rings
- 8 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
- 50 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 15 grams salted Pantelleria capers, prepared to your taste (how to prepare capers)
- 10 grams Parsley, finely chopped
- 2 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped
- 1 Chili Pepper, chopped
- Salt
- Heat the oil in the pan and cook over a low flame adding the anchovies, chili pepper and garlic for a couple of minutes. Do not burn.
- Add the capers and the olives cut into circles and cook for another couple of minutes.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil, add the spaghetti and cook to al-dente.
- Pour in the tomato sauce in the pan with the capers and olives, together with half of the parsley. Let everything cook for 10 minutes, adding a little bit of water if the sauce results too dry.
- Drain the spaghetti and mix it with the sauce, together with the remaining parsley.
- Serve.