Last Friday I had the wonderful pleasure of dinning at my dear friend Emily's house. When I walked in to her darling apartment a wonderful wonderful smell greeted me! I am not sure exactly what Emily cooked for us but I entered the ingredients in the handy google search bar and found Pasta alla Puttanesca. Apparently, Puttana is the Italian word for "whore," and legend has it that this dish was used by Neapolitan ladies of the night to entice potential clients to sample their other offerings. Naturally, I was intrigued. This dish does call for anchovies but states that to make it vegetarian you simply leave them out... I also Modified like crazy from the original recipe so let me share what I did....
Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
5 cloves of garlic (2 sliced, 3 diced)
Whole wheat pasta (any variety that tickles your fancy)
About 4- 5 tomatoes
About 8 callamata pitted olives, sliced
About 1 TBS Capers, rinsed
1 bunch fresh basil, chopped
1. Cook Pasta according to box directions
2. Begin to warm O.O in pan. Slice 2 of the cloves of garlic. Allow them to simmer away in OO until golden brown and then remove with a fork.
3. Add 3 cloves of diced garlic to OO, then Capers and tomatoes. Allow to simmer for a few minutes while the toms reduce and become more saucy. Add the olives and continue to simmer. I took this time to work on my salad and pasta.
4. Just before serving, add diced basil to the tom sauce mixture. (it only needs to be in the heat for about 1 minute, then you can remove your sauce pan from the heat.
I served mine with a side salad with avocado and sunflower seeds and some yummy whole grain bread.
Bon Appetite!
This was REALLY yummy but I would like to state for the record that this was not exactly what Emily prepared and I liked hers more so I still have some work to do on this....
What Ill change next time.... I think Ill use about 1/2 to 3/4 the amount of O.O and substitute the rest with butter. As a general rule of thumb I don't cook with butter (hence I didn't have any in my house to use yesterday). But I really think a little butter would soften the stronger flavors in this dish and make it truly comforting. I also might sprinkle a little feta cheese on top of my pasta...Obviously these changes would mean it was no longer vegan.
My grandparents are in Seattle from England!! Woo Hoo!! I am going to cook them dinner on Friday night and I think I know whats on the menu.... :)
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