Pasta alla Puttanesca

Before I talk about a delicious pasta dish, I would like to remind you to enter my Giveaway - click HERE to see that post and enter for a $40 gift from CSN!

OK, on to important stuff - pasta!

Pasta alla Puttanesca, a classic dish popular in Calabria and Lazio (according to Williams Sonoma's book The Essentials of Italian Cooking) but also served in many American households.



I grew up south of Philadelphia , a small suburb called Brookhaven…which bled into Parkside, Upland , Chester ….all little communities of their own….most teeming with first and second generation Italians. So…I know this dish. Heard about it, tasted it many times…growing up in a proverbial melting pot of cultures and tastes that enriched my childhood.



Ingredients needed.....adjust according to taste!

¼ cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 can plum (Roma) tomatoes, drained and chopped
Sea salt and ground pepper
6 to 8 olive oil packed anchovy fillets, chopped
¼ cup chopped pitted Gaeta or other Mediterranean-style black olives
2 TB chopped capers
2 TB chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 pound penne or other pasta

Heat a large frying pan and warm the oil. Add garlic and red pepper and saute – about 2 minutes

Add tomatoes, salt, pepper and bring to a simmer.

Reduce heat to low and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thickened up….about 20 minutes.

Add anchovies, olives, capers and parsley and simmer 1 minute.
Meanwhile, get your pasta water to a boil, salt it, and add your pasta of choice. I used Barilla Penne.


When the pasta is cooked, ladle out 2 scoops of pasta cooking water. Nice starchy stuff.

Open the wine...a Chianti would obviously work well....but we had this bottle of Goats do Roam (love the play on words) and we enjoyed this one with the pasta.




Add drained pasta to sauce in the pan, toss over low heat. Adjust the consistency with the cooking water if needed.

Bello! Serve with green beans sauted in olive oil with bacon and warm bread.





Ciao!

This is a candidate for Presto Pasta Nights so I'll be linking up with the guest host - Girlichef. Go check out PPN and Girlichef...you'll be glad you did :-)