Classic Pasta Puttanesca

This incredibly flavorful classic Italian puttanesca sauce recipe has tomatoes, olives, capers, garlic, and anchovies tossed in herbs and pasta.

Puttanesca is a zesty sauce comprised of tomatoes, onions, capers, olives, anchovies, and garlic, and is commonly served with pasta. On a restaurant menu, it will often say alla puttanesca, which means with the sauce. This sauce has a couple of minor variations, including herbs and chiles. Regardless, you can make this pasta work to your liking.

There are a couple of stories on where this sauce came from, starting with its origin in brothels, specifically in the Spanish quarters in Naples where the puttanas, translated to prostitutes, would feed themselves and clients.

Another story claims that puttana stems from the Latin word for putida, which means stinking. This would make sense considering the strong aromas from the ingredients in the pasta.

The last claim states that a chef in the famous Ischia restaurant in Italy had nothing much left to serve some hungry customers. He just threw together whatever ingredients he had, translating from “puttanata qualsiasi,” which means prepared as it comes. Make it simple with no frills. It’s really just a simple Spaghetti Sauce.

PRINT OFF THIS RECIPE AT: https://www.billyparisi.com/puttanesca

Ingredients for this recipe:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 thinly sliced garlic cloves
• 1 seeded and small diced Fresno pepper
• 4 roughly chopped anchovy fillets
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 28 ounces whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand
• ½ cup pitted and sliced Gaeta or Kalamata olives
• 2 tablespoons finely minced fresh parsley + more for garnish
• 1 pound dried spaghetti pasta
• sea salt and pepper to taste