Pasta alla Puttanesca (Whore’s Pasta)

Pasta alla Puttanesca, Whores pasta

This pasta dish is not of my creation but a combination of several recipes all with the same basic ingredients. The sauce for this dish has been around a long time and has as many stories as variations. I have read that the Women of the night would beg for food in the back of restaurants in Naples. They were given this simple  but very tasty dish to eat. Another variation is  Pasta alla Puttanesca translates in Italian to: "Pasta the way a whore would make it." The reasons are often disputed: some say it's because this is the pasta whores would make in Italy to lure in potential customers, others say it's because the strong smell--anchovies, garlic--made the pasta itself "smell like a whore." Either way, this is a delicious pasta and extremely easy to make.

Pasta alla Puttanesca (Whore’s Pasta)

Giorgio Celmo

Ingredients:

1 lb spaghetti or vermicelli
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3-4 anchovy fillets in olive oil
14 oz can whole Italian plum tomatoes (crushed by hand)
4 oz (1 cup) pitted black olives
l/2 tablespoon capers small ones, if large 1 tablespoon

2 tablespoon Italian parsley chopped course

Directions:

Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water following the directions on the packet carefully to avoid overcooking. While the water for the pasta is heating put the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the finely chopped garlic and chopped anchovy fillets and cook gently until they are almost melted. Now stir in the crushed tomatoes with their juice, the black olives, capers and pepper flakes. (Olives can be chopped or left whole according to taste but if the olives are large it is better to chop them.)

Cook for 5 minutes.

When the pasta is ready, drain it and add the sauce. Mix well, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve immediately.