PENGY PASTA PUTTANESCA

Some people say that the name of this dish comes from it being Italian for "lady of the night". We all know it was invented by the little twats in A Series Of Unfortunate Events. We've all seen that movie and they made it for Jim Carrey. Three ingredients that people often utterly detest combined with pasta and a lovely tomato sauce to create such a beautifully flavoursome dish. My favourite.

15-20 Minitz

Ingredients

(For 2 People)

300g Dry Pasta (I like to use Rigatoni)
Tin of Whole Tomatoes
Half a White Onion
Teaspoon Chilli Flakes
Tablespoon Olive Oil
2 Cloves of Garlic
A Handful of Pitted Kalamata Olives
2 Tablespoons of Capers
Around 50g or 1 Tin of Anchovy Fillets
Handful Fresh Parsley
Salt & Pepper

Ingredients

Instructions

Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan. Finely dice your onion and your garlic. Chop your anchovy fillets up into little bits. Chuck in the onion and soften a little with a sprinkle of chilli flakes and some black pepper. When your onion is soft you can chuck in the garlic and anchovies. I like to add a splash of the pungent anchovy oil that they're preserved in. You should do this also. Give everything a bit of a stir. You want your pasta boiling in some salty water at this stage.
After the garlic and onion has infused, and the anchovy bits have sort of melted away into the mix, add your tinned whole tomatoes and use a potato masher to smash them into sauciness. This is a good time to add a couple of tablespoons of the starchy pasta water. You also want to chop your olives into little chunks and get those involved in your sauce. You must add the capers as well, they don't need chopping. Also if a little of the salty caper water gets in, that's good flavour. Maybe pour a bit in. You do you. Mix and simmer for 5-10 minutes depending on how long you can be asked to wait.
Slap in your pasta and toss it about getting it all coated. You might have used spaghetti, or rigatoni, whatever you like. I find tubular pasta to hold lots of the sauciness. The capers get hidden in the holes. It's just what you want.
Chop up your fresh parsley and scatter that in, mixing it through. Serve in a bowl and enjoy a most flavoursome delight.