Puttana, in Italian, means whore. I feel like this sauce was made for me. Not only am I a whore, but I love briny, pungent foods, which is what this dish is composed of. Rumor has it this sauce was created by prostitutes in Rome as a quick meal in between tricks. Others say its strong aromas are what sparked the name. Either way, it is easily one of my favorite pasta dishes.

As if olives weren’t enough (ya love ’em or ya hate ’em), the sauce is also packed with garlic, capers, anchovy, and red pepper flakes. I’m drooling just typing this! It all comes together rather quickly, and I use frozen butter to really deepen and bind the sauce. Add some fresh herbs at the end for brightness, and you’ve got an AMAZING pasta dish in under an hour. Whore.

Pasta Puttanesca Recipe

La Faguette

A quick meal between lays.

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• ▢ ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
• ▢ 1 tsp anchovy paste (usually next to canned anchovy)
• ▢ ½ Tbsp tomato paste
• ▢ ½ Tbsp chopped capers
• ▢ ¼ tsp lemon zest
• ▢ ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp sliced kalamata olives
• ▢ 1 – 14oz can crushed tomatoes
• ▢ ½ tsp white granulated sugar
• ▢ ½ pound long pasta
• ▢ 1 cup pasta water
• ▢ 3 Tbsp butter, divided, held in freezer
• ▢ olive oil
• ▢ kosher salt
• ▢ black pepper
• ▢ chopped basil and/or mint, for garnish

Instructions

 

• In a large pan, over medium-low heat, squirt about a tablespoon of olive oil and allow to heat up.
• Once oil is shimmering and heated, add garlic, crushed red pepper, and anchovy paste. Cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes until garlic and anchovy are fragrant. This will smell like ass. I'm so sorry.
• Add tomato paste and cook/stir until softened and everything in the pan is incorporated into each other – about 2 minutes.
• Toss in capers, zest, and olives. Stir until well heated through – about 5 minutes.
• Pour in crushed tomatoes and sugar. Stir that shit up!
• Season to taste with salt and pepper, and continue cooking (be sure it doesn't start bubbling, may have to lower heat)while you cook the pasta.
• Cook pasta until al dente, it will cook more in the sauce.
• Before draining pasta, reserve 1 cup pasta water. Pour half of that into the pan with the whore sauce.
• Now drain pasta, dump it into olive sauce, and turn up heat to medium-high.
• Grab your butter from the freezer and add to pan. Stir often until butter is fully incorporated – 10 seconds on the heat, 10 seconds on the heat. If sauce is too thick, add more reserved pasta water.

  Taste the final sauce and, if necessary, season with more salt, pepper, and/or sugar.
• Plate your pasta and top with chopped basil and/or mint!
• Enjoy your puttanesca like a good little whore 🙂

Notes

Set up your ‘mise en place.’ This means do what the recipe tells you to do to the individual ingredients, measure them out, and then place them in separate little bowls/dishes/what-have-you. When it’s time to build the recipe, you have everything measured and ready to go. It makes the entire process so much easier and more enjoyable!

 

OMG DID YOU MAKE THIS?!? 

Tag @la_faguette_ on IG and hashtag it #lafaguette !

Keyword best puttanesca recipe, dinner recipes for two, easy italian dinners, easy pasta sauces, olive pasta sauce recipe

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Equipment to make Pasta Puttanesca:

The BEST Nonstick Pan!
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Cutting Board Set!
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Cute Microplane Zester!
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The equipment section above contains affiliate links to products I recommend, many of which I love and use daily! Please purchase from these links…the price doesn’t change but I get a cut!!!