Spaghetti Puttanesca

There is something so comforting about a big bowl of pasta, it doesn’t need to be complicated - sometimes just some olive oil and lemon juice will do the trick. But swirling noodles onto my fork is a moment of complete zen.

Last night after arriving home from my trip to Niagara - and a small detour for some intense retail therapy at the outlet mall, I just wanted something easy, comforting, and (due to the aforementioned shopping) cheap.

With a tub of olives and a jar of the best capers ever sitting on the shelf I knew what I needed to do.

Spaghetti Puttanesca is one of my all time favourite pasta dishes. It comes together so easily, and the rich, meaty saltiness of the olives offset by the bright briny capers and sweet tomato is just perfection.

Traditionally there are anchovies in this dish, but I didn’t have any on hand and think it works just fine without them.

I pulled the olives and capers out of the fridge, grabbed a couple of shallots, a few cloves of garlic, and a jar of strained San Marzano tomatoes.

I sliced up the shallots and added them to a cold pan with some olive oil, cooked them on medium heat till they were translucent, then added the garlic.

Once it was just starting brown I added about a cup of sliced olives, a few heaping tables spoons of capers, and some fresh cracked pepper into the mix.

Finally I poured in about half a jar of the tomatoes and put the burner on low to simmer while the pasta cooked. Once the noodles were pretty close to finished I added them to the sauce and let them soak it up as they finished cooking.

Then I put the whole thing into a bowl and onto the table. There are some meals that should be served plated up, with just the right amount of each item on the plate, drizzled with sauce, topped with parsley… but there are also some meals that should be served family style, and this pasta is definitely one of them.

You could serve with with some Parmesan, but honestly it doesn’t need it.