Debbie Quinn has a lifelong love of food and cooking, nurtured in her parents’ restaurants and in her own family’s kitchen. Every fortnight she shares her passion and expertise with our readers, bringing her best recipes, tips and tricks to the table.
Deb’s Spaghetti with Puttanesca Sauce
This is my mother Lorna’s version of an Italian favourite, which has become my husband Peter’s go-to dish when he takes a turn in the kitchen. He says puttanesca is not just a recipe, but a lifelong pursuit of depth of flavour. This dish can be made mainly with items you have in the pantry, so stock up on a few things and start your own puttanesca journey.
Ingredients
1/3 cup olive oil
4-6 garlic cloves
1 small French shallot
4 x 400g cans of whole peeled tomatoes
6 anchovy fillets
20 pitted Kalamata olives
2 tbsp capers
2-3 tsp Sambal Oelek (chilli paste)
½ tsp ground oregano leaves
½ tsp sugar
250g of your favourite pasta (Barilla No. 3 Spaghettini this time)
Grated parmesan or pecorino cheese to serve
Method
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Cut the garlic cloves in half and squash them lightly with the side of your knife. Finely slice the French shallot.
Open the cans of tomatoes, lift each tomato out with the fork and cut through with a sharp knife to allow any watery juices to drain off into a bowl. If the tomatoes have a hard green top, cut that off and discard. Put the remaining tomato flesh into a large bowl. Repeat this process for the 4 cans of tomatoes. When you’ve finished, drain any excess liquid from your large bowl of tomato flesh.
Put the olive oil in a large saucepan on low-medium heat and add the garlic cloves. Cook for a few minutes until the garlic is golden brown and a bit crispy. Remove the garlic with a slotted spoon and discard. The purpose of this step is to infuse the garlic flavour into the olive oil. Lower the heat, add the shallots, and cook for a couple of minutes until soft. You don’t want to overcook or brown the shallots, so keep an eye on them.
When the shallots have softened, add the tomato flesh. Break the tomatoes up with a large spoon and stir over medium heat until the tomatoes begin to bubble. Add the anchovies, olives, capers, chilli, oregano and sugar, mix in well, and allow the sauce to simmer away for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Cook your favourite pasta until al dente, then ladle plenty of the sauce into a non-stick fry pan over low-medium heat. Lift the pasta straight out of the boiling water with tongs or a slotted spoon into the sauce and stir to combine well.
Serve the pasta in a bowl, top with grated parmesan or pecorino, and enjoy.
Bringing a taste of Italy to the table — homemade puttanesca sauce, brimming with bold flavours.
Deb’s tips
Don’t be scared off by the use of anchovies in this recipe, they are a flavour bomb and your family and friends will thank you for it (just don’t tell them). Conversely, don’t try to make this dish without anchovies, you will still make a nice sauce, but it won’t be puttanesca.
Slicing and draining your tomatoes can be a bit tedious, but the objective of this sauce is to infuse and intensify the flavours of all the ingredients into the tomatoes, and it helps if you don’t start with excess liquid.
Deb says don’t be scared off by the use of anchovies in this recipe, they are a flavour bomb.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
You can just add the tomatoes in their juice straight into the saucepan, or use crushed tomatoes if you like. If you do this, just use 3 cans of tomatoes and cook the sauce for a bit longer to reduce the liquid and intensify the flavours that way.
This dish goes really well with a small serving of protein. We sometimes cook a lamb rack cut into individual chops, or green prawns rolled in rice flower and simply fried in a pan.
Don’t get too fussed about the quantity of each ingredient. Sometimes a bit more garlic, sometimes more anchovies, sometimes more or less chilli, but taste the sauce as it’s cooking and developing flavour. This sauce is a simple rustic Italian classic, and it is always good, however occasionally, the magic really happens when everything just clicks and it can be brilliant.
Simple ingredients, extraordinary flavour – this is puttanesca done right.
Twirl your fork through this puttanesca masterpiece.
