Featured Recipe

Pasta Puttanesca

SERVES 2

The Sauce

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 fresh red chili, deseeded and chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 can (2 ounces) anchovies, drained
1 ˝ cups pitted black olives, chopped
1 ˝ tablespoons capers, drained
1 pound tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 ˝ tablespoons tomato paste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A few drops of olive oil
Salt
8 to 10 ounces spaghetti

The Garnish

Chopped fresh basil
Lots of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano

To make the sauce, heat the oil in a medium saucepan, then add the garlic, chili, and basil and cook these briefly till the garlic is pale gold.  Then add all the other sauce ingredients, stir, and season with a little pepper – but no salt yet, because of the anchovies.

Turn the heat to low and let the sauce simmer very gently without a lid for 40 minutes, by which time it will have reduced to a lovely thick mass, with very little liquid left.

While the sauce is cooking, take your largest saucepan, fill it with at least 3 quarts of hot water, and bring it up to a gentle simmer.  Add a few drops of olive oil and a little salt and then, 8 minutes before the sauce is ready, plunge the spaghetti into the water.  Stir well to prevent it from clogging together, then cook according to the package directions.

After that, drain it in a colander, return it to the saucepan presto pronto, and toss the sauce in it, adding the basil.  Mix thoroughly and serve in well-heated bowls, with lots of grated Parmigiano to sprinkle over – and have plenty of gutsy, “tarty” Italian red wine to wash it down.

Wine Recommendations by Wine.Com:

1998 Parusso Barbera "Ornati," Piedmont

1997 Lonetree Winery Sangiovese, Mendocino, California

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