Unheralded

CHEF JEFF: One Byte At A Time — Spaghetti Puttanesca

Spaghetti Puttanesca has always fascinated me. It has many ingredients that I use in my spaghetti sauce. And several that are not.

One of those I don’t use, anchovies, has always had a bad connotation in my mind. I remember a joke from my childhood when some of us talked about what toppings a pizza should have. Someone would always say anything except anchovies.

I don’t know if any of my friends had ever eaten anchovies. I never had. But still we always would joke about them when talking about pizza toppings.

A friend of mine shared the following recipe with me and that’s when I changed my mind about anchovies.I’m here to tell you that anchovies are pretty good, especially in Puttanesca sauce. If you don’t believe me, give this recipe a try.

Spaghetti Puttanesca
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 to 6 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ cup capers, drained and chopped
¼ cup chopped pitted black olives
1 14-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
1 5-ounce can oil-packed tuna
Kosher salt
8 ounces dried spaghetti
2 tablespoons parsley leaves
1 ounce grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
In a medium skillet, combine 4 tablespoons oil, garlic, anchovies and red pepper flakes. Cook over medium heat until garlic is very lightly golden, about 5 minutes. (Adjust heat as necessary to keep it gently sizzling.) Add capers and olives and stir to combine.
Add tomatoes, stir to combine, and bring to a bare simmer. Stir in canned tuna, flaking it gently with a fork. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, in a 12-inch skillet, 12-inch sauté pan or large saucepan of lightly salted boiling water, cook spaghetti until just shy of al dente, about 2 minutes less than package directions.
Drain pasta through a colander, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water. Add pasta to sauce.
Add a few tablespoons of pasta water to sauce and set over medium-high heat to bring pasta and sauce to a vigorous simmer. Cook, stirring and shaking the pan and adding more pasta water as necessary to keep sauce loose, until pasta is perfectly al dente, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat and stir in remaining olive oil, parsley and cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with more grated cheese at the table.





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