A recipe from a real Italian
This is for puttanesca sauce, the pasta sauce made famous by the hookers in some Italian city or other. It's strong and rich and should be reserved for those evenings when you can cook it, eat it, and fall over in a heap. A good red wine is essential.
Do Not Be Afraid Of The Anchovies. Really. Anchovies are good as a condiment, and that's what they are here.
3 cloves garlic (Lydia's recipe didn't say whether to chop them, so I did)
6 tablespoons of olive oil
1 pound of ripe Roma tomatoes, cored, or a 28-ounce can of tomatoes (I used Hunt's Petite Diced because the Romas aren't so good just now)
3 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained (they're weird green things you find in jars in the olive and pickle section)
2/3 cup small black olives, pitted and chopped up slightly (Nicoise would be good, but they're a bitch to pit. I used Kalamata, rinsed and drained.)
a couple of shakes of red pepper flakes
a couple of teaspoons of chopped *fresh* oregano. The fresh part is important.
3 ounces salt-packed anchovies, rinsed and drained (Or oil-packed, but be sure in either case to rinse them well, then drain and chop them coarsely.)
2/3 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
salt to taste, though I sure didn't need any
A whole mess of thick spaghetti or linguine to serve this over
In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil, then add the garlic. When it begins to color, add the tomatoes, capers, olives, red pepper flakes, and oregano.
Cook this at a bare simmer for about ten minutes, or until it begins to thicken. I left the sauce simmering for nigh on a half hour and it worked fine.
Add your anchovies and parsley, mix it all up very well, and leave to simmer, again, for as long as it takes you to cook up the pasta.
Taste to adjust seasonings and add salt if you're crazy. *ahem* That is, add salt if you think the sauce needs it, which it wouldn't unless you're the Salt Vampire from the original Star Trek, but anyway.
Top with Parmesan cheese (the freshly-grated stuff, please, just this once, as the garp in the can ruins the sauce). Eat. Collapse.
One anchovie fillet equals one crank of salt from the grinder.
ReplyDeleteI gotta tell you though, we have a pretty big salt grinder. It's as big as a dumptruck.
Kinda goes without saying, I guess.
That's a darn funny salt joke, doncha think? At least it would be if it weren't so true.
ReplyDelete