Pasta to Make a Whore Blush

Castellane alla Puttanesca

 

I always loved the name of this dish, whichever version of the recipe it was- and it does come in a few variations... but whichever way it is prepared, "pasta alla puttanesca" means "whore-styled pasta"... and you just GOTTA love that!

But the bottom line is that the combination of tomatoes, olives, capers and anchovies is very seductive indeed... so delicious in fact that it is definitely worth paying for! So ok- then a whore's pasta it is! :-)

 

 

Now, I don't know where this strange name actually originated from, but I do remember the first time that I ate it and it was at a wedding reception, when I was still but a child. I was told back then I should eat something else as I wouldn't like it.

I don't know if the real reason was because they didn't think I would like the capers and olives in it... or if they didn't think it appropriate for a child to eat a dish with such a "raunchy" name- haha! In any case I loved it way back wen and I guess I love it even more today!

So you have seen the photos of the finished dish and they show wonderfully how packed with flavor this pasta dish is... but you need surprisingly few ingredients to make 2 nice portions... as you can see here, 10-15 cherry tomatoes, 8-10 black olives, 1-2 cloves of garlic, 1 shallot, 1 fresh chili pepper (or flakes are fine too), 2-3 anchovies, a few capers and plenty of parsley.

 

This is such a wonderful dish at any time of the year- but in the Summer... it really is just perfect! Especially as it can be whipped-up in just the time it takes for your pasta to boil and you don't have to slave over a hot stove for hours on end!

 

I decided to use these pretty "Castellane" noodles- basically because they were the last left-overs from a box I had started a while ago, but you can use absolutely any pasta shape you may prefer. These just made my plate of whore's pasta a little more elegant than an everyday street-walker... but a cheap whore, which may simply be spaghetti or penne, would also be wonderful and just as delicious!  

 

Here you can see the exact ingredients I used to make just 1 plateful and how I prepared them... 5 black olives, cut in half, 4 large caper-berries cut into quarters, 8 cherry tomatoes cut into thick slices, 2 anchovies (which I did cut up before cooking), 1 finely diced shallot, 1 finely sliced clove of garlic and a half of a hot chili pepper, finely diced and with the seeds removed.

As soon as you put the pasta on to boil, start to fry all of the ingredients except for the olives and tomatoes in a little olive oil until they begin to brown nicely.

 

Once the finely chopped ingredients are nice and brown, add the cherry tomatoes and the olives.

 

Next, add your pasta to the frying pan, making sure not to drain it completely- in fact, you want to have the bottom of the pan coated with the water the pasta has boiled in, as this will deglaze the pan, bring up all of the good flavors and cook them into the pasta.

Continue cooking for 3-4 minutes at a moderate heat, stirring gently until the water in the pan becomes incorporated into the olives, capers, anchovies. garlic, chili and tomatoes and then back into the pasta itself... along with all of that good flavor they bring with them!

Add a splash more of olive oil before serving and plenty of fresh and finely chopped parsley. Whether you add pepper or not will probably depend on how hot that chili pepper you used happened to be! And grated Parmesan or salted ricotta cheese is an option- but one I decided against for my dish this evening... there is already plenty of salt in there from the capers, anchovies and olives in my opinion :-)

You're right... this plate of food is saying "take me!"