A quick, easy and delicious Italian dish which offers up quite an unusual flavour combination; tangy, a bit salty with a subtle warm peppery finish due to the use of fresh parsley…

There is a quite a lot of controversy on the internet about spaghetti alla puttanesca; fresh tomatoes versus tin ones; parsley versus basil; onions versus garlic; chilies or no chilies… Well at least most people tend to agree that the main and never changing ingredients should be olives and capers… the rest is optional… sort of…

My recipe is inspired by Italian Tomato Spaghetti by Bertolli. We made, as is our tendency, some changes to suit our refined palette and added some optional parmesan cheese (well according to Mark you simply can’t have a spaghetti dish with no cheese… I am sure most Italians (he isn’t Italian btw) would disagree but hey ho…).

If capers and anchovies aren’t to your liking, you might want to check out some of the other delicious Italian recipes on the Bertolli website, or you might, as I hope for, just give this one a try 🙂

The recipe will serve four adults and it can be on your plate in less than 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 400g fresh spaghetti
• 500g fresh cherry tomatoes
• 75g black olives; de-stoned
• 50g Bertolli with butter
• 50g fresh anchovies in olive oil; chopped
• 2-4 cloves garlic; finely sliced
• 2tbsp capers
• 2tbsp tomato puree
• Handful of fresh parsley; chopped (for serving)
• Handful of fresh grated parmesan cheese (optional for serving)

Method:

Half each cherry tomato.

Roughly chop half of the olives.

In a heavy bottom large frying pan melt the Bertolli, and add the anchovies and garlic and sauté until soft, which should take you about 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the capers, olives (both chopped and whole), cherry tomatoes and tomato puree, stir well then cover with lid and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Use this time to chop the fresh parsley and grate some parmesan cheese if like Mark, you can’t have an Italian dish without it.

Cook spaghetti as per the pack instructions; if you are using fresh it should only take 2 or 3 minutes in simmering salted water. Drain it well and add into your sauce. Ideally you want your pasta al dente and definitely not overdone.

Make sure the spaghetti is well coated, then serve sprinkled with fresh parsley and that optional parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Have you ever tried spaghetti alla puttanesca?

What do you personally think about this flavour combination?

*Recipe commisioned by Bertolli.