What’s Cooking…Pasta alla Puttanesca

Well, sort of…. Some recipes call for this to be made with anchovies.  I’ve always made it with tuna -mainly because I am a big fan of tuna – both fresh and canned.  Canned, of course, is much easier to find and cook with. Plus, I’ve always thought that tuna and black olives go perfectly together – apparently others do as well because there are tons of recipes using these two.

No, this is not a typical Abruzzo dish.  In fact, I’ve heard that it comes from Naples.  But then, I’ve also heard that it comes from Sicily, so take your choice.  Maybe someone out there knows better than I do.

As for the origin of the name, I read somewhere (and I don’t remember where because it was too long ago and my brain is tired), that the name comes from the fact that it was a typical dish of the Naples prostitutes. How true that is, I don’t know.  For those who don’t speak Italian, puttana means prostitute (to put it nicely), so puttanesca means “prostitute style”.

The best thing about it is that it’s quick and easy.  This recipe serves two as a single dish meal.

Ingredients

200 grams penne pasta (about 1/4 lb)
1 can tuna
1 small onion, chopped
1 large or a few small cloves garlic, minced
about 15 black olives
1 T capers
chopped fresh parsley
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 T olive oil
salt

Directions
Put salted water on to boil for the pasta, adding pasta when it starts to boil.

Cook onion and garlic just until the onion becomes transparent. Add tomatoes, tuna, olives, capers, parsley and salt and simmer while the pasta cooks, stirring occasionally.

Once the pasta is done, toss it in the sauce and you’re all done.

Wasn’t that easy?

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