Pasta alla Putanesca
Pasta Putanesca means “Harlot’s Pasta”. It was originally made by ladies of the night in Italy, and placed in the window to attract customers. When you smell this wonderful dish cooking, you’ll know why it was so popular.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup Olive Oil
- 1 tin of Anchovies
- 12-15 Garlic Cloves (8-9 whole, 4-6 chopped)
- 1/4 tsp Dried Red Pepper flakes (more is you like it spicier)
- 28 ounce Canned Tomatoes, diced (with juice)
- 12-15 Calamata Olives, pitted and halved
- 2 Tbsp Capers, drained
- 1/3 cup Fresh Italian Parsley, chopped
- 1 Tbsp Fresh Basil, chopped
- Pasta of choice (I prefer either linguine or regular spaghetti, but you can use any)
- Additional Fresh Parsley to top
- Fresh Parmesan Cheese to top (Never use the stuff in the green can…always use fresh)
Preparation
Heat the oil in a good size saute pan or skillet. Add the anchovies and whole garlic cloves. (I usually give the cloves a good whack with the flat of my knife to semi-crush them, while keeping them mostly whole.) Cook until garlic browns and the anchovies break apart.
Add the red pepper flakes and cook a few seconds more. Add the tomatoes, olives, and capers. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Add the chopped garlic, parsley, and basil. Simmer for another couple of minutes.
Cook the pasta “al dente”, according to package directions. Toss with half the sauce until evenly coated. Arrange the pasta on a platter and pour remaining sauce on top. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve!
Serve with warm bread and wine. Serves 4-6.
This one I think I can make!
the Moroccan Chicken sounds delicious but too complex!
Let me know if you want my secret Peruvian ceviche recipe!
Giuliana
I had only tasted Putanesca sauce once and did not like it. Now I know it was the recipe. This recipe was absolutley the best. We will have this often. A big thanks to somebody for posting it.
Doro
i’ve been making this for years and its easy and everyone loves it!
Saw someone eating this on a TV show, and they seemed to
enjoy it so much we had to try it. Recipe was easy, and
all of us REALLY liked it.
May 26th, 2007
Your Putanesca sauce is just pefet!
I live in Sarasota, Florida.
Here we have the best fresh pasta you can find out of
Italy, from Peperonata Fresh Pasta. I had it with their
fusili, they hold the sauce just right.
Thank you
Tried this recipe and is good!
For me 12 olives was still a little salty so next
time i’m bringing it down to 9. 12 garlic cloves worked
just right for my taste. Also reduced the anchvoies
and that worked well too.
Discovered also this dish needs some reducing during
the simmer. If you’re using from the can tomatoes,
it’ll be a little watery at first.
Enjoy!
The way I’ve always heard it, the reason it’s called Harlot’s Spaghetti is that the hookers only got a chance to go food shopping once a week, so they had to keep shelf-stable ingredients around for cooking. That’s why there’s so many strange ingredients in it – it probably started out as “Whatever’s in the Cupboard Tonight” Spaghetti.
Now I know why it’s called Putanesca. Of course!
Whore in Italian is Putana. I haven’t tried it yet,
was reading a novel, and someone made it in the book.
He said don’t use spoons, instead scoop out some good,
crusty bread, and use it to scoop up the soup.