spaghetti alla puttanesca
spaghetti with tomatoes, capers, olives, anchovies and chilli
First of all let’s dispell some myths. ‘Spaghetti alla Puttanesca’ is often translated badly as ‘whore’s spaghetti’ / 'slutty spaghetti', and so on. A pungent, slightly spicy, strongly flavoured 'pick-me-up' that your favourite hooker would rustle up for you right after you'd concluded the night's business in one of the backstreets of Naples.
Except that I think that's really just a folksy, contrived, 'origin story.' The kind of sentimental, syrupy rubbish that gets bolted on to so many other Italian recipes. With Puttanesca though, there are documented recipes from the 19th century through to the 1930s which included just this very unique combination of strong-flavoured ingredients - it was only in the 1950s and 60s, though, that they came to be branded ‘alla puttanesca.’ "In the style of a whore?!?!?" It was a ballsy, eyebrow-raising name, just right for the post-war generation. It stuck.
For those interested in the most likely origin of the modern recipe name, legend has it that it was coined one night in the 1950s on the Island of Ischia. Near closing time that night the owner of a local restaurant was pestered by a group of hungry customers to rustle up whatever he could for them, pleading ‘facci una puttanata qualsiasi,’ literally ‘make us any kind of puttanata,’ or as we might say, ‘just make us any kind of shit.’* Maybe the chef was aware of the older combination of ingredients, maybe he wasn't, but all he could find in the kitchen were tomatoes, olive, capers and anchovies. He threw in a chilli for good measure. The drunks loved it, as did he, and he stuck it straight on the restaurant menu.
* NB It's interesting that we use the word shit in English as a multi-purpose swear word, whereas the Italians also use ‘whore.’ And I’m pretty glad they do. Really not sure that Shit Spaghetti would have worked.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO
(scroll down for the full method)
soak the capers
chop the olives
weigh the other ingredients
pick the parsley
make the tomato sauce
fry the olives, capers and anchovies
boil the pasta
combine pasta and sauce
add toppings, toss again
spaghetti with tomatoes, capers, olives, anchovies and chilli
INGREDIENTS
FOR FOUR PEOPLE
600-800g tomato polpa (Mutti)
3 anchovy fillets (or to taste)
40g capers
120g black olives
3 medium garlic cloves
2 hndfls torn fresh parsley
fresh chilli, to taste
PASTA
400g dry spaghetti
MANTECATURA (?)
none to slight
METHOD
NB The quantities above are a guideline, just adjust them to your own tastes, but be really careful with all the very salty ingredients. To start, use 2 tins of good tomato polpa (my choice is now always Mutti) and make a ‘marinara’ type of base with some garlic and EVO, salt and pepper. Chop some olives (kalamata if you want strong and gaeta if you want a more restrained taste) and capers (in vinegar or salted is fine but make sure you thoroughly rinse salted capers before use. This means letting them sit in boiling water for at least 30 mins, with two changes of water).
Fry the capers and olives together in a tiny amount of EVO in a non-stick pan for a minute or so, add the chopped anchovies, fry for another minute to give everything a little colour and then set aside.
NB You may have seen other recipes for Puttanesca where the capers and salty ingredients are added to the tomato sauce and allowed to cook while the pasta boils.... that's quite risky, because if you've overdone the anchovies or have particularly salty capers, you'll get a very salty pasta sauce.
To avoid this, my version of Puttanesca adds most of the toppings at the final stage of cooking - the tomato's not as olive or caper-flavoured as it is with other methods, but it should help to avoid an inedibly salty disaster. Boil and cook the pasta. While it's cooking, add just a third of the capers/olives/anchovies mixture to the tomato sauce and let it simmer. This is the point you can throw in as much finely chopped fresh chilli as you want, or you could play safe and gradually add cayenne pepper....
When the pasta is just around the 'al dente' stage, transfer to the pan of sauce to continue cooking and get it to the firmness you like. Don’t overdo the mantecatura, though, as tomato sauces really don’t need much extra starchy gloopiness. When the pasta is almost cooked to perfection add the remaining toppings, the torn basil, and toss to combine. Serve immediately with freshly grated pecorino.
NUTRITION per serving
KCAL: 498
Fat (g): 10.2
Sat Fat (g): 1.5
Carb (g): 78.2
Sug (g): 8.9
Fibre(g): 4.2
Prot (g): 18.4
Salt (g): 2.25
