Whore's Style Spaghetti - Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca

Leave it to the Italian prostitutes to come up with a crazy recipe name, Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca, which literally means Whore's Style Spaghetti. Some say it refers to the spicy aroma produced by its ingredients that enticed passing customers. Others claim that this dish was the easiest thing they could prepare between customers. We cook it today because it has a remarkable flavor, is easy, and is made of ingredients easily kept on hand.

I had heard about this recipe many years ago when I lived in Hellas and this is a modified Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca. You could also read more about the origin and history of this recipe from the web or wikipedia.

I had everything in the butler's pantry needed to make this dish:

• spaghetti in this case I used angel hair pasta because my wife and I love them, 
• about 20 olives, 
• 1/4 cup olive oil,
• 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes,
• 1/2 a can of 6oz tomato paste,
• I also added two tomatoes grated that if I didn't use them, I would have to throw them out the next day, 
• a handful of capers (I used a 3oz bottle), washed with cold water,
• about 10-12 anchovies,
• six cloves of garlic,
• oregano

I grabbed a small container of anchovies and washed them in the sink under cold running water. They are too oily and salty and by washing them you remove the oil and most of the salt. This time I used a garlic press to cream them and I set them aside. 

You can use already pitted olives but I had these olives in the refrigerator that were calling my name. I sliced them and discarded the pit. I cut the olives into relatively small pieces and set them aside.

You will need two pots, one to cook the pasta and the other to cook the sauce and mix all the ingredients together. For the pasta you will use a pot large enough to cook it. Here is a picture of the bottom of 5 quart pot where the sauce will cook. 

I added the olive oil in the pot and started to heat it in medium heat.

I used my handy garlic press to crush the few cloves of garlic. After heating up the oil I added the garlic and anchovies and stirred in the pot them for about two minutes. You don't want to burn the garlic.

Then you add the contents of the can of crushed tomatoes, olives, and capers. Next time I will use the whole container of capers. I also added the tomato paste and the two grated tomatoes and I mixed the contents well. I cooked the mixture for about 20 minutes.

How appropriate. On iTunes Love For Sale started to play. I hope you get the connection here between puttanesca and Love For Sale.

Here is an aside for you. I had a few meatballs leftover from a meal earlier this week and I took four of them and started to warm them up. Here is the dish with the leftover meatballs.

I used a small pan to warm up the meatballs.

I also stated a pot with water for the pasta. Purposely I used my most favorite wooden spoon that I bought during a trip to Hellas several years ago. Can anyone comment about the actual place where I purchased this spoon? Hint: look at the writing on the spoon.

I used 3/4 of the angel hair pasta box. It only took 4 minutes to cook. I drained the pasta in a colander and I added the drained pasta into the sauce.

Gave the whole thing a nice stir and it looked good! Look at it. Look at it, I tell ya!

I used a large plate and added the pasta mixture. Here I sprinkled some oregano and I added some freshly grated parmesan cheese. Yum!

Here is my plate with the pasta, one meatball and a side of χόρτα (Helenic for grass). In Hellas they eat certain types of grass. Recently I visited a farmers' market in beautiful Rhinebeck, NY, and there I found a variety of different χόρτα. It is so easy to cook χόρτα (grass) and you got to try it. I will be going to this farmer's market next week too because they had several varieties of grass that I would like to try.

Xόρτα - ραδίκια

Before starting with the grass recipe I will tell you a funny story from many years ago when I visited Hellas with my daughter. She and I were out having lunch and I ordered a side of χόρτα. When the waiter brought the χόρτα my daughter, since she had never seen χόρτα before, asked me what that dish was. I explained it to her and she ate some of it just so she can say to her friends that she had grass with her dad. Kids. Got to love them.

I bought two bunches of ραδίκια and removed the roots. I took one of the bunches and place it in a large bowl and let lots and lots of water run on the grass. There was A LOT of dirt that I had to wash away. Getting to dirt off is the hardest part but you need to wash the grass well. Make sure you let the grass sit in the bowl of water for a few minutes and stir it with your hand(s).

Here is a closeup of the root of the grass. You need to cut it a little lower from where my finger is. I kept the twine on each bunch while cutting the roots because it makes it very easy to cut the roots off.

Here is one bunch of grass with the roots cut off in the colander.

Before starting to wash the grass you need to get a large pot. I used an 8 qt pot filled 3/4 with water. I brought it to a full boil and added the grass. I cooked it for 20 minutes while stirring it every few minutes.

After boiling the grass for 20 minutes I grabbed a large colander and poured in the contents of the pot. I used a wooden spoon to press on the grass to get rid of as much water as I could.

I moved the grass onto a plate where I drizzled some olive oil. I also added to the plate a lemon, cut in half, because its juice adds a different dimension to this dish. My wife said that the grass was just as good as the one she had in Hellas. Thanks for the nice complement honey.

Between the pasta alla puttanesca, the meatballs and the grass the meal was complete and very delicious. This was a great success and I must thank the puttanescas of Italy for creating this dish.