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Spaghetti alla Puttanesca del Giglio

Ingredients

  • 1 28oz can of Whole peeled tomatoes
  • 2 boxes of Pasta
  • 6-12 cloves of Garlic, halved
  • 4-10 Anchovy filets
  • ¼ tsp - ½ tsp of Red chili flakes
  • 1 Tbs Tomato paste
  • 40 grams (3 Tbs) of Extra virgin olive oil
  • 1-2 Tbs Capers
  • 1 bunch Basil, sliced thinly
  • 8-16 Pitted kalamata olives, halved
  • Black pepper
  • Parmigiano Reggiano

Tools

  • Sauce pan or large skillet
  • Pot (for the pasta)
  • Wooden spoon
  • Knife
  • Can opener

Steps

  1. Bring a pot of water to boil.
  2. Add the garlic, half the anchovies, half the red chili flakes, and olive oil to a hot sauce pan or large skillet. Cook on medium-low heat until the garlic begins to turn color (1-2 min).
  3. Add the tomato paste and continue cooking until the tomato paste begins to darken (1 min).
  4. Gently pour the can of tomatoes into the pan and continue to cook. Working quickly, pull the whole tomatoes out of the pot to break up the stem scar/core by hand.
    Everything else gets broken up and integrated into the sauce with the spoon while stirring.
  5. Add your pasta to the pot of boiling water. Set a timer for two minutes prior to the recommended cook time.
  6. Add the olives, capers, and the remainder of the anchovies. Add liquid from these jars to add salt (1-3 Tbs total).
  7. Add the rest of the chili flakes, and add black pepper to taste.
    If your sauce starts to brown, turn down the heat and add a ladle of pasta water.
  8. Add the basil.
  9. When the pasta is al dente, turn off the heat and drain the pasta (mostly).
  10. Drain the last of the pasta water into the sauce and stir it in.
  11. Lightly salt and pepper the pasta and add a drop of olive oil or butter.
  12. Plate the pasta, top with sauce, and top with grated parmigiano. Pair with pinot noir.
    Sauce can be frozen and keeps well in the refrigerator up to a week.

You don’t see Puttanesca on a lot of menus outside of Italy. That might partly be owed to the fact that “alla Puttanesca” literally translates to “in the way of the prostitute.”

Legend has it that some drunk diners came into a Neapolitan restaurant that was closing for the night, and the chef told them that he didn’t have ingredients to make anything. The patron told him to prepare some “pasta alla puttanesca,” meaning simply, ‘throw it together however.’ The result was this dish.

What’s beautiful is that, save for the basil, the recipe is all pantry items. So you can gather the ingredients and throw this together whenever you feel like it. Speaking of basil, don’t worry if you’re missing a couple of the ingredients. As long as you have a can of tomatoes, you can make some version of this sauce.

The secret of what makes this sauce great is to NOT add any of the following: sugar, salt, rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley, black olives, mushrooms, stock, water, flour, milk, cream.
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