It's one of my husband's favorites,
Puttanesca.
You can use crushed,
San Marzano's,
cooked down,
canned, cherry tomatoes from Italy.
We're using fresh tomatoes because we have them,
and it's that time of year
and cherry tomatoes are always delicious.
So if you want a fresh kind of burst tomato,
more texture in your sauce,
go with the fresh.
I have three pints.
So we put a pot with about four or five tablespoons,
coat the bottom of a pan that,
this is important,
that has a tight fitting lid.
Heat it until it just starts to
barely ripple in the middle, just like that.
And we're going to add the anchovies first,
get the lid on and let them start to melt and dissipate.
We're going to take a wooden spoon
or a flat paddle
and just start mushing them up a bit.
I'm literally using the lid of the pan as a shield
and stirring as the anchovies melt.
Add in our garlic.
And if you're using paste, a good round spoonful.
I would call that a tablespoon,
or a teaspoon of flake.
Cut that back, way back, if you're using flake.
And one red chili, if you're using a fresh chili.
We're basically making croutons
to go on top of our dish.
So we're going to put the butter in the pan
and just let that get delightful.
And we're going to add this one clove
of the crushed garlic to that.
Let that hangout.
Now, this guy has been in there
about a minute, back here.
Okay?
So now what's going to happen,
well, now we're going to add
our capers,
our oil cured olives,
and our family's special ingredient,
the white vermouth or fortified white wine.
And now we're going to let the spirits,
the alcohol, burn off.
So we're going to reduce that down by half.
So now we're going to sprinkle in all of our bread crumb
and start turning that
so that it toasts evenly and gets a lovely,
golden browned,
nutty tone to it.
And we're going to flavor it
with a little drizzle
across the pan, of the essence,
Colatura of Alici.
And again, you could just melt a little anchovy,
or add anchovy paste.
So now we're going to put in all of our tomatoes.
Boop!
And I just pull some leaves off,
give it a little tear,
drop it in there,
and then trap all of that heat,
and all of that flavor in the pan.
Drop a lid on it.
Come on, buddy, there we go.
Drop a lid on it, let it go.
And it'll start to collapse.
We are going to salt the pasta water,
cause that's the only chance we get
to flavor the pasta itself.
So good amount of salt,
little over the shoulder for luck,
and there goes the spaghetti.
And now we're going to do the most exciting thing.
The marriage of pasta and sauce.
So we reserve, oh 1/2, 3/4 of a cup of the liquid.
We turn the stove off.
We drain the pasta, just shy of al dente
or to the tooth or to your, the bite.
A little bit shy for packaged directions
for carry over cooking.
Or you can fish it out with tongs or a spider.
We combine it with all of the sauce.
Boop!
And then we do
half of our parsley.
Turn off that back burner,
add a little of our starchy water
and toss, toss, toss, toss, toss.
We spill that out.
Now, extra bread crumb, you can just use
as croutons on your salad
or crunchies on soup
of any kind homemade or store bought,
who cares?
They're delicious. Don't waste a bit.
Bread crumb topping.
The last of our parsley.
And there you go.
(bells twinkling)