A friend introduced me to pasta alla puttanesca a couple of years ago and its now become one of our favourite pasta dishes – plus there’s the added bonus that it takes 20 minutes to make and I also love the name (which politely translates as ‘tart’s pasta’ – have a google for the real translation!).
I’ve made a few adaptations over the years to the classic recipe you’d find if you did order a plate of this in Naples, its city of origin. I boost my sauce with lots of extra vegetables (eating the rainbow!) and also add quite a bit of chilli as we like a bit of heat but you can tone that down if you prefer a milder sauce.
Ingredients (this makes 2-3 servings)
- 1 onion (roughly chopped)
- I courgette (sliced and quartered)
- 1 pepper, any colour (deseeded and roughly chopped)
- A handful of mushrooms (roughly chopped)
- A tin of chopped tomatoes (you could swap for passata if you’d prefer)
- A tablespoon of capers
- A tin of anchovies (drained)
- 16 olives
- 2 garlic cloves (I use a tbsp of frozen garlic)
- 1 tbsp of chilli powder (change according to how spicy you like it, or leave out altogether)
- 1 tsp of basil (you can swap for mixed herbs or oregano)
- dried pasta (I use 75g of dried wholewheat pasta per person as a guide)
- 1 tsp of parmesan per person to top
- A handful of rocket or spinach per person to garnish at the end
Method
Chop all of your veg first
Add a splash of water to a large saucepan and place on a medium heat
Add the garlic, chilli powder and herbs and cook for a minute or so
Add the onions, courgettes and peppers and cook for 5 mins to allow to soften
Then add your mushrooms and cook for another couple of minutes
Drain your anchovies and roughly chop them and then add those and your chopped tomatoes to the pan. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Boil your pasta according to the packet instructions. We’ve now switched to using wholewheat pasta as its higher in fibre than white pasta as well as containing more nutrients – and to be honest, there’s absolutely no difference in taste (hubby didn’t even realise we’d made the switch).
Just before your pasta is cooked, add the olives and the capers to your sauce for the last couple of minutes to allow them to heat through.
Drain your pasta and mix into the sauce giving it a good stir to ensure it is evenly covered
Serve and top with 5g of parmesan and a handful of rocket per person and enjoy!
If you wanted to, you could serve with my healthy take on garlic bread – click here for the recipe.
Make it your own: swap out any of the vegetables you don’t like for any that you do! I’ll often add others depending on what we have in, diced aubergine is another favourite.
I hope you enjoy! Do let me know if you try it or if you have any other top tips for the perfect ‘tart’s pasta’!