LinsFood | by Azlin Bloor

In-Depth Recipes, Food Culture & Food Stories

MENUMENU
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Categories
      • Amuse-Bouches, Canapés and Starters
      • Cookies
      • Desserts
      • Dips, Sauces and Gravy Recipes
      • Eggless Recipes (Desserts & Baking)
      • Birthday and Occasion Cakes and Cupcakes
      • Cheese (Types and Recipes)
      • Gluten Free
      • Healthy Recipes
      • Meat Recipes
      • Noodle Recipes from around the World
      • Rice Recipes from around the World
      • Salad Recipes
      • Soups and Stews from around the World
      • Seafood
      • Vegan
      • Vegetarian
    • Seasonal Recipes
      • Winter Recipes
      • Spring Recipes
      • Summer Recipes
      • What's in Season Now?
      • Autumn (Fall) Recipes
    • Festive Recipes
      • Nowruz Recipes (Persian New Year)
      • Easter Recipes
      • Ramadan Recipes from around the World
      • Eid Recipes from around the World
      • Thanksgiving Recipes
      • Christmas Recipes from around the World
      • Chinese New Year Recipes
      • Valentine's Day Recipes
    • Collections
      • Alcoholic Drinks
      • Alcohol Free Drinks
      • Breakfast & Brunch Recipes
      • Cake Decorating 101
      • Fine Dining
      • Gin Recipes
      • Pantry Recipes
      • The Chilli Pepper Page
      • Top 12 Chicken Recipes
  • World Cuisines
    • American
    • British Recipes
    • Burmese Recipes
    • Chinese Recipes
    • East and West African Recipes
    • Eastern and Central European Recipes
    • French Recipes
    • South Asian Recipes (India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka)
      • Kashmiri Recipes
    • Indonesian Recipes
    • Italian Recipes
      • Risotto Masterclass
    • Japanese Recipes
    • Korean Recipes
    • Latin American Recipes
    • Middle Eastern and North African Recipes
      • Persian Recipes
      • Tagine Recipes
    • What is Singapore and Malaysian Food?
    • Spanish Recipes
    • Thai Recipes
    • Turkish Recipes
    • Vietnamese Recipes
  • Reference
    • Ingredients

      Ingredients
    • The Edible Garden

      The Edible Garden
    • What’s In Season?

      What's In Season?
    • Oven/Cooking Conversions

      Oven/Cooking Conversions
  • Media
  • Udemy Classes
  • About
    • About Me

      About Me
    • My Cookbooks

      Singapore Recipes

Pasta alla Puttanesca

Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

Pasta all Puttanesca

There are many theories when it comes to today’s recipe, Pasta alla Puttanesca, whether in its origin or the story behind its name. Some (many celebrity chefs in the UK) would say that Pasta alla Puttanesca means the way a whore would make it! But my Italian friends will tell you that the name behind this dish refers to the contrasting mix of flavours and ingredients that make it up!

“Che puttanata” in Italian basically means “what a mess!”. This is in reference to the sauce, the sugo alla puttanesca, as if no thought went into making it, just a “let’s chuck in whatever we can find” approach. Hence the name: pasta or spaghetti alla puttanesca, a pasta dish whose sauce is, essentially, a mess! You know, like something you’d put together from whatever was at hand, without actual planning – that’s what this pasta really means! Don’t believe everything a celebrity chef tells you!

 

As with any much loved and treasured recipe, this one has variations depending on the cook. Some leave out the anchovies altogether, some use fresh tomatoes while others won’t even think about using chillies. Cooking, like eating, is a very personal and subjective pastime, so you make it the way you like it, without changing the foundation. I love anchovies and I certainly love my chillies, so you’ll find both these in my sugo alla puttanesca. You can adjust the amount of chilli or chilli flakes in the recipe or do without it altogether if you’re not a fan.

You might fancy checking out my Italian page here and my Mediterranean Mélange collection on Google+.

Pasta alla Puttanesca

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon
Pasta Puttanesca

Pasta Puttanesca


★★★★★

5 from 9 reviews

  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe

Ingredients

Scale
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
  • half a fresh red chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced or half a tsp of chilli flakes
  • 8 anchovy fillets, rinsed and patted dry if in brine
  • 1 tbsp capers, rinsed if salted and chopped roughly
  • 100g black pitted olives, sliced or halved
  • 1 can of 400g chopped tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree
  • small handful parsley, chopped
  • 400g pasta of your choice, cooked according to packet instructions, usually 8-10 mins

Instructions

  1. Bring a large saucepan of water to boil for the pasta, adding a heaped tsp of salt in.
  2. Heat the olive oil in another large saucepan or deep frying pan on medium heat. Add the garlic, chilli and anchovies. Fry for a couple of minutes, the anchovies will fall apart during this time.
  3. Add the olives, capers and tomatoes and bring to boil. Simmer for 10 minutes on medium heat until the sauce has thickened.
  4. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in the pot of boiling water until the al dente stage, according to packet instructions, usually about 8-10 minutes.
  5. Add the drained pasta to the sauce, toss and serve sprinkled with parsley and freshly ground black pepper.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 4

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @azlinbloor on Instagram and hashtag it #linsfood

Comments

  1. Paul Binns says

    25/05/2013 at 1:14 am

    Sounds just like my recipe Azlin Bloor. I will be making this sometime soon and posting it too. I like your blog. Like mine it has a variety of different food types. Good job

Hey folks, I’m Azlin Bloor; former chef, culinary instructor and mum of 4.
Click here to read more about me!

Language

ArabicMalayFrenchSpanishHindiChinese (Simplified)ItalianRussianEnglishGerman

My Latest Posts!

  • Doogh, Afghan and Persian Yoghurt DrinkDoogh (Afghan and Persian Yoghurt Drink, aka Ayran)
  • Beef Birria Consommé in a light blue bowlBeef Birria Recipe (Mexican Beef Stew)
  • Raspberry and Chocolate MargaritaRaspberry and Chocolate Margarita (a Valentine’s Day Cocktail)
  • dusting sugar on Eggless Baileys Chocolate CheesecakeEggless Baileys Chocolate Cheesecake (perfect for Easter)
my foodgawker gallery
Tasty Query - recipes search engine
Foodies100 Index of UK Food Blogs
Foodies100

Cook with me on Udemy!

Cook With Me

LinsFood contains affiliate links. This means that we earn a commission off any purchases that you might make by clicking on some of the product links.

Contact Me     Privacy Policy     Cookie Policy
Copyright Azlin Bloor | LinsFood.com 2011-2021