Ancient Grain Puttanesca
Cook this ancient wheat puttanesca for your next pasta night dinner party! Its complex savory taste will impress your guests even though this dish is so quick and straightforward to make.
Equipment
- 1 skillet
- 1 large pot
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes, jarred or canned
- 1 lb ancient grain spagetti or other noodle shaped pasta
- 3 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 4 cured anchiovie fillets
- ¼ cup capers
- ⅓ cup kalmata olives, pitted and chopped
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
- fresh flat leaf parsely, chopped
- freshly grated parmesan
Instructions
Prepare the sauce
- In a large deep skillet, heat up the olive oil on medium-low heat.
- Add minced garlic, cured anchovies, capers, chopped olives, and saute until fragrant and well combined being careful not to let the garlic burn.
- Add the tomato paste and stir until well incorporated.
- Add the crushed tomatoes and mix well with the rest of the ingredients while lowering the heat. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until sauce is reduced just a touch.
Prepare the pasta
- While the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Cook the pasta just shy of al dente (1-2 minutes less than what it says on the package).
- Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta cooking liquid before draining the cooked pasta.
Combine the pasta and sauce
- Add the cooked and drained pasta immediately to the skillet holding the sauce.
- Stir gently until all the noodles are coated with the sauce.
- Add reserved pasta water if needed little by little until the sauce is thickened to your liking.
Garnish and serve
- Serve the pasta on a plate and sprinkle fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley on top.
- Sprinkle with red pepper flakes if using.
- Grate some freshly grated parmesan cheese on top. Enjoy!
Notes
- Don't add too much parmesan cheese to the final dish, as there are many salty and umami flavors from the other ingredients in the sauce.
- Cook the pasta just shy of al dente (1-2 minutes less than what it says on the package) and finish cooking the pasta in the sauce. This will ensure that the pasta won't be mushy and overcooked when you serve.
- Try other varieties of ancient grain pasta like einkorn, spelt, or emmer. Whole-grain versions of these pastas also go well with the flavor of puttanesca sauce.