Rigatoni Puttanesca

If you like bland food, pass this one by. It is a lively dish..........true Italian comfort food.
- Ready In:
- 1hr 5mins
- Serves:
- Units:
4
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ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, halved and slivered
- 6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
- 2 (28 ounce) cans Italian plum tomatoes
- 1 1⁄2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 (2 ounce) cans anchovies packed in oil
- 3⁄4 cup pitted and coarsely chopped black olives
- 4 tablespoons drained capers
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- fresh coarse ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 lb rigatoni pasta or 1 lb other large tube-shaped pasta
- parmesan cheese (optional)
directions
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy saucepan.
- Add onion and garlic; cook over low heat for10 to 15 minutes, or until vegetables are wilted.
- Crush tomatoes slightly; add to the saucepan along with their liquid.
- Stir in tomato paste; cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.
- Coarsely chop the anchovies and add to the saucepan along with their oil.
- Stir in olives, capers, basil, oregano, red-pepper flakes and black pepper.
- Stir gently and simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- While sauce simmers, bring a large pot of water to a boil with remaining tablespoon of olive oil.
- Add pasta and cook until just tender (al dente); for rigatoni, allow 10 to 12 minutes.
- Drain pasta and serve topped with puttanesca sauce.
- Pass the Parmesan.
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I love pasta puttanesca, and this recipe was no disappointment! Poor anchovies have such a bad rap, lol! I know that they're like little salty fish-bombs on a pizza, or on top of a Caesar salad (not appealing to most people, so I hear). In a simmered sauce, though, they just provide this great flavor element that gives depth to the sauce, not the strong fishiness that one would think. Eh, to each his own. I'm just a biased fan of strong salty flavors anyhow (capers, anchovies, pickles, olives, etc), which is exactly why I love this sauce. Thanks for posting! Made for PAC Spring 2013Reply
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This was wonderful! I followed the recipe almost exactly (though I may have gotten a little happy with the garlic, and my "pinch" of red pepper flakes was very generous!). We wound up making it on Sunday (and simmered it for several hours), and eating it on Monday. We thought, the kids would take one look and not eat it, but they did! The tomatoes I got already had basil leaves in them, so I didn't add any more. I can't wait until the summer to make this when I'll have fresh tomatoes and fresh basil and oregano! My guy likes meat in his tomato sauce, so next time we're going add sliced Italian sausage. There will definitely be a next time. Thanks!Reply
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