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Classic sauce gets its due
Puttanesca sauce is a robust concoction comprised of (but not limited to) tomatoes, capers, onions, olives, garlic, anchoherbs and olive oil. It lends itself to many Mediterranean dishes and has been said to originate in Naples, Italy.
While rustic and unrefined in its ingredients and presentation, puttanesca is rich with outstanding flavor. It's a quick sauce, not needing hours to prepare. In its Italian translation, puttanesca means "in the style of the prostitute", which comes out of translation from Latin to Italian in its origin. It seems ladies of the evening would put it together quickly, and the dish became a bit of a catch-all of ingredients.
Some of the attractions of a pasta puttanesca are its amazing aroma and contrasting flavors. It boasts salty and pungent flavors from the capers, olives and anchovies. When combined with the sweetness of garlic, onions and tomatoes it makes customers salivate. If you can get them to try it, that is.
As creative chefs and culinarians have learned to push the envelope with traditional dishes, we now have new ways to look at taking this old classic (which is perfect and amazing on its own merit) and use it in a variety of ways and perhaps make some of our own alterations to elevate this sauce into a new variation.
Let's start with my own version of the sauce, which would be perfect tossed with spaghetti or any pasta of your choice. One of the rustic aspects of this recipe is that there is not necessarily an...