Pasta Puttanesca is one of our favorite pasta dishes. It’s basically our “go-to” pasta recipe. The other day we were getting ready to make it and went to cookography to look up the recipe, only to discover that we’ve never posted it! A serious oversight on our part!
Recently, the Washington Post did a great article on pastas and sauces and put together a handy chart for pairing different pasta shapes with the appropriate sauces.
Normally we buy Barilla Plus multi-grain pasta, but decided to spice it up a bit and went for a fun shape. We bought Campanelle, which means “bellflowers” in Italian and has fluted edges and a hollow center–perfect for capturing the puttanesca sauce. In general, short sturdy shapes with hollows and ridges, such as rigatoni, penne and tortiglioni, work well with robust, chunky sauces and rich cream sauces.
Pasta Puttanesca
Ingredients:
- 4 medium cloves garlic, minced to paste or pressed through a garlic press
- table salt
- 1 pound pasta
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 4 teaspoons minced anchovies (about 8 fillets)
- 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained, 1/2 cup juice reserved
- 3 tablespoons capers, rinsed
- 1/2 cup black olives (such as Gaeta, Alfonso or Kalamata), pitted and coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
Directions:
- Bring 4 quarts water to rolling boil in large Dutch oven or stockpot. Meanwhile, mix garlic with 1 tablespoon water in small bowl; set aside. When water is boiling, add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta; stir to separate pasta.
- Heat oil, garlic mixture, red pepper flakes, and anchovies in large skillet over medium heat; cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is fragrant but not brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and simmer until slightly thickened, about 8 minutes.
- Cook pasta until al dente. Drain, then return pasta to pot; add 1/4 cup reserved tomato juice and toss to combine.
- Stir capers, olives, and parsley into sauce. Pour sauce over pasta and toss to combine, adding more tomato juice to moisten if necessary. Serve immediately with grated cheese.
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Fantastic website! I’m just starting photography after finishing a culinary arts degree. I will definately be back!