Penne alla Puttanesca

 

Penna alla Puttanesca - penne in the style of the ladies of the night. What are ladies of the night, you ask? Prostitutes.

Herbie is shocked by this revelation.

This was our first time making this dish and we followed the video recipe from Mario Batali's android app. In the app he explains the name and how it came to be. According to lore, the ladies of the night would make this dish to draw in the men as they were coming home from work. The strong, pungent, aroma of all the favorite Italian flavors - olive, anchovy, tomato - was enticing to these hardworking italian gentlemen.

Our purposes for making this dish were slightly more benign - we simply wanted to try something new. Turns out, the ladies of the night didn't actually have to be that wonderful at cooking because the dish is actually quite easy to make, and takes only a few minutes to prepare.

Making the Dish
What You'll Need
1 can salt packed anchovies
1/2 red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic
1 cup chopped gaeta olives
3 tbps capers
1 cup marinara sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 penne
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated pecorino romano to garnish


To get started it's best to chop up all of your ingredients first. Run the salt packed anchovies under cold water for about 10 minutes while you're chopping the rest of your ingredients. Dice up half a red onion, parsley, garlic, and some gaeta olives. Then take about 2 tablespoons of capers and rinse them under water as well. Finally dice up your anchovies until they're very small.

Throw everything into a saute pan with the olive oil already heated and start to simmer the ingredients. You can do this until the anchovies start to break down and the onion has softened.

Simmering our ingredients in olive oil. The aroma is already quite strong at this point. Fortunately, no customers for us.

Once they've turned, add in some strained tomatoes. Strained tomatoes, you ask? It's essentially tomato puree - just the base of the tomato with no chunks. We recommend Pomi strained tomatoes, because they are delicious. Add in 1 - 2 cups of this and stir it all together. Let it simmer so the flavors combine.

Adding the strained tomatoes and stirring to combine.

Meanwhile, cook your penne. Do this in salted water, and cook to one minute less than the package directions. Once it is finished, add it directly to your sauce and stir to combine. Add your chopped parsley, stir, season with salt and pepper to taste, and plate.

The parsley is added and our dish is almost complete.

Finish your plate off by drizzling with a touch of olive oil and some grated pecorino cheese. And you're done!

Herbie is extremely happy that we opted to use anchovies in this meal.

The Result

While the anchovies are certainly an acquired taste, if you like putatnesca, this is the way to do it. It's quick and easy and the result is really good. The anchovy is strong but balanced by other strong flavors in the olive and onion, and it's all pulled together nicely by the sauce. Overall it presents a complex but balanced dish that screams classic Italy.

Give it a try and let us know what you think!