Colm O'Gorman's perfect Pasta Puttanesca - even if you hate anchovies

A little chilli is critical to a good sauce, says our culinary adventurer

Pasta puttanesca - and don't hold the anchovies?

If you remember the original MasterChef which first aired on the BBC back in 1990, you will certainly remember its then presenter Loyd Grossman.

Loyd had a very particular accent. He was an American, born in Boston, and lived in the UK since moving there as a student in the mid 1970’s.

His accent was neither fully British nor American. It sounded almost impossibly posh, a hybrid of both.

He was passionate about food, and even introduced a range of pasta sauces off the back of his role in MasterChef.

I mention his accent because readers may remember how ads for the sauces often parodied it.

Those sauces introduced many people, me included, to cooking Italian food. \\Loyd Grossman’s puttanesca sauce was a particular favourite of mine, and getting hooked on that all those years ago prompted me to learn how to make it myself.

Puttanesca is a fabulous sauce, and while it tastes quite complex, it is incredibly quick and easy to make.

That classic combination of capers, olives, anchovies, tomatoes, garlic, and fresh parsley is just perfection on a plate.

If you dislike anchovies, do not be put off making this sauce.

The anchovies are a wonderful base flavour note here, but do not dominate the dish at all.

Honestly, try it, you will not be disappointed.

Many recipes for puttanesca use a combination of fresh tomatoes and tomato puree. As the flavour of fresh tomatoes out of season can be quite hit and miss, I use tinned Italian cherry tomatoes instead. You can find these in all the main supermarkets these days, both Lidl and Aldi stock them.

They are bursting with flavour, so I find I do not need to add any tomato puree. I also add some fresh lemon zest to my sauce, just to balance it and bring some freshness to complement the parsley.

A little chilli is critical to a good puttanesca. I find that half a teaspoon of chilli flakes brings just the perfect hint of heat, without upsetting the balance of the dish and dominating the flavours.

How much you need will depend upon both your own preferences and the strength of the chilli flakes you use. Start with half a teaspoon and add a little more if required towards the end of cooking the sauce.

If possible, use bronze-cut pasta. This type of pasta has a slightly rough and porous texture, so it absorbs and carries the flavours of pasta sauces beautifully. I use linguine when I make puttanesca, but you could use spaghetti or a pasta shape such as penne if you prefer.

Colm O'Gorman's Pasta Puttanesca

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

Inspired by the ever-droll Loyd Grossman's standard-setting iteration of the classic

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 25 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Italian

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 3 cloves garlic

• 8 anchovy fillets

• 100g pitted black olives

• 40g capers

• 1 tin cherry tomatoes

• ½ tsp chilli flakes

• Zest of half a lemon

• 320g dried linguine

• 20g fresh flat leaf parsley

• A good grind of black pepper

Method

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil for your pasta. While that is heating, you can get on with making the sauce.

2. Peel and finely slice or chop the garlic. Roughly chop the anchovies, the black olives, and the capers. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or sauté pan over a high heat. When the oil is shimmering, reduce the heat to low and add the garlic. Sautee the garlic for a minute or two before adding the chopped anchovies. Cook for another few minutes, stirring all the time, until the anchovies dissolve into the oil and garlic. Add the chopped olives and capers, and the chilli flakes. Turn the heat up to medium and stir to combine everything thoroughly. Next, add the lemon zest and cook that in for just one more minute.

3. Add the tin of cherry tomatoes and bring the pan to a soft boil, stirring well to combine the tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients. Reduce the heat to a simmer and pop a lid on the pan.

4. Add the pasta to the pan of boiling water and cook according to the instructions on the packet. Linguine will take about eight to ten minutes, so check it after eight minutes. Just fish out a strand, taking care to let it cool a little before you bite into it. It should be soft but still retain a little firmness or bite. Pasta is best served ‘al dente’, which literally translates as ‘to the tooth’, meaning that the pasta should require a little chewing to eat and not simply melt away once you bite into it. When your pasta is ready, remove a cup of the starchy water from the pan and drain the pasta into a colander. Pop the pasta back in the pot and toss it in a splash of olive oil to prevent it sticking while you finish the sauce.

5. Wash and chop the parsley. Add about a third to the puttanesca sauce and stir it in. If your sauce needs to be thinned out a little, add some of the reserved cooking water from the pasta. Taste the sauce and add more black pepper if needed. It will not need any salt as the anchovies, olives and capers will have added enough already.

6. Pour the sauce over the cooked linguine and toss thoroughly coat the pasta. Serve on warm bowls or plates and scatter the rest of the chopped parsley over each dish.