Yesterday, at the end of the week, it was time for some comfort food. Our favorite comfort food is pasta! Since I'm lactose intolerant, I've found some new pasta sauce recipes that are so good that cheese is not required. My number one favorite is pasta puttanesca. The first time I had ever heard of pasta puttanesca was in A Series of Unfortunate Events. In that movie, the children have to make dinner with almost no ingredients, so they decide to make pasta puttanesca. This made me think that this dish was an "everything, but the kitchen sink" kind of meal. Or as one chef I know told me...a "Mustgo" dish because when you look in the refrigerator and see all the food that is going bad, you say, "that must go, that must go, and that certainly must go" and you create a meal with all those ingredients. Because this dish seems so aimless, I didn't consider a great culinary achievement. However, this is not so! Pasta puttanesca is one of my favorite dishes. It is rich, hearty, and transports me to the warm hills of Italy every time I taste it. It brings together all the flavors of the Mediterranean (olives, capers, anchovies) together into one simple, perfect dish.
(And if you're saying to yourself, "I don't like anchovies," think again! This dish just might convince you otherwise! You can also add a little or a lot, depending on your preference, but their fishy flavor compliments this sauce wonderfully.)
My recipe is an adaptation of Emeril Lagasse's pasta puttanesca recipe:
( http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/puttanesca-sauce-recipe/index.html ). I usually follow it quite closely, though this time, I created my own version of it. Plus, this time I found some absolutely delicious fresh, Turkish anchovies!! I have only used canned anchovies in the past, but had found them to be very salty. I just happened upon some fresh ones this time...and boy were they good! They were bigger fillets (without bones) that were marinated in a brine of salt, vinegar and oil. And I could have eaten them all by themselves! They were salty, acidic, flaky...perfect. But I ended up adding them all to the sauce. This made my dish very fishy, but in a good way. If you are going to use canned anchovies, I would stick with smaller quantities as they can be very rich and salty.
Also, I learned that capers can last a year (opened) in the refrigerator. Just a good fact to know!
I also used nicoise olives, which are small, mellow, black olives. My grocery has a great bulk selection of olives, and if you can find them, I would recommend trying out different varieties. I have used kalamata olives before, which are delicious and fruity, but they are much bigger than the nicoise and much be cut in half so they integrate better in the sauce. I have also used dry salt cured olives (which are usually very black and wrinkled), but these tend to be extremely rich and salty and did not work as well as the others. If you have little olive selection, I recommend staying with kalamata. These are usually easy to find and very versatile.
This time, I used whole wheat pasta shells. I like a pasta with ridges or crevices that soak up all the sauce! Traditionally, this is made with spaghetti noodles. But you can use whatever you like!
Pasta Puttanesca
Adapted from Emeril Lagasse
Note: This recipe makes about 2 quarts of sauce. I intended to make a lot of sauce, then freeze 1 quart for later. However, this sauce is so good, that it went fast! This recipe should feed about 6-8 people, or there should be enough for leftovers!
2-3 TB olive oil, plus any anchovy oil
1 large yellow onion, small diced
6-8 cloves garlic, minced
6-8 fillets fresh anchovies or 2 TB canned anchovies, minced
3 TB capers
1 cup nicoise or kalamata olives, with juice
2 15 oz cans whole tomatoes, pureed (or chunky, whatever you like)
1 pound whole wheat pasta shells
salt to taste (Though you might not need any!!! Taste before you add extra salt!!)
Additions:
Add in with garlic:
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried basil, crushed
Stir in the sauce right before serving, or sprinkle on top:
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
2-3 TB fresh basil, chiffonade
grated Parmesan or manchego cheese
1. In a large skillet or pot (I used my soup pot since it makes a lot of sauce!), heat olive oil and any anchovy oil on medium high heat. Add in onions and cook 5-8 minutes until soft and slightly caramelized. (If you onions are getting too brown, turn the heat down...or add in a little water or olive juice to keep your onions from sticking!)
2. Add garlic to onions and cook 1 minute or until fragrant. Add capers, anchovies, olives (and any juice), and tomatoes. Turn heat up, bring to a slow boil, then turn the heat down and slowly simmer for about 40 minutes.
3. When the sauce is almost done, add the pasta to boiling, salted water until al dente.
4. In a large skillet mix the pasta with the sauce. Or serve the sauce over the pasta like regular spaghetti.
Yay for Friday Night Comfort Food!! Enjoy! :)
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