- Welcome To My Italian Kitchen!
- Italian Cuisine Overview
- Pasta Types & How to Cook Pasta
- Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce {Recipe}
- Linguine alla Puttanesca {recipe}
- Bucatini all’Amatriciana {recipe}
- Penne all’Arrabbiata {recipe}
- Italian Courses {recipe}
- 10 Commandments of Italian Cooking
- Ragù alla Bolognese {recipe}
- Ragu’ with Pork {recipe}
- Ragù Napoletano {recipe}
- La Genovese {recipe}
- Pesto Genovese {recipe}
- Italian Herbs and Spices {recipe}
- My Favorite Italian Cookbooks + a Website
- Pasta and Peas {recipe}
- Pasta and Potatoes {recipe}
- Pasta and Beans {recipe}
- Pasta and Garbanzo Beans {recipe}
- Myth Busters! {and a giveaway}
- Italian Hand Gestures
- The BEST Chocolate!
- Chicken alla Cacciatora
- Breaded Chicken Cutlets {recipe}
- Pan Fried Potatoes
- Pizza at Home!!! {recipe}
- Spicy Carrots {recipe}
- Grilled Eggplant {recipe}
- Roasted Peppers {recipe}
- Macerated Strawberries {recipe}
A simple variation on yesterday’s recipe is Linguine alla Puttanesca. This recipe can also go by alla Provenzale, alla Martinique, or alla Bonne Femme. I think it’s time for a little Italian language lesson. The kind everyone wants to know first. Let’s break down what “alla Puttanesca” means. “Alla” is not reffering to the Islamic deity. It is actually a contraction of “at the” which can be translated “in the style of” in English. So this is linguini “in the style of” puttana. And what is a puttana? you ask? This is where it gets a little…ahem…uncomfortable. It’s a whore. Yep. This is linguini in the whore’s style. Actually, if you look at the last name for this dish “alla bonne femme” that’s basically French for the same thing. A “good woman” is anything but. Okay. Enough language lessons for today. Let’s get on with the recipe.
Linguine alla Puttanesca
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped (or squeezed through a garlic press)
- 1-2 tbsp capers (preferably in brine rather than vinegar)
- ¼ cup black olives (kalamata or nicoise, but NOT the waxy canned ones), pitted
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
- 1 large can petite diced tomatoes, or 2 lbs fresh Roma tomatoes
- handful of chopped parsley
- salt to taste
Heat olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Add garlic and red pepper (if using). Sauté for 2 minutes.
Add capers and black olives. Sauté for 1 minute.
Add diced tomatoes and cook for 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle parsley over sauce at the end of the cooking time.
*****
Tip: When you start to heat the oil in the frying pan you can go ahead and put your pasta pan on. By the time the pasta is done cooking, the sauce will be finished. This is one of those easy recipes that you can prepare in a jiffy if you keep all the ingredients on hand. That’s why I recommend keeping a stocked pantry!
Side note: Do you know what capers are? They are the flower bud to the caper plant which often grown on rocky cliffs and walls.See the little flower buds?
Yep. That’s what it is! I buy them in Italy “under salt,” but they are available here in little jars. Try to get them in brine rather than vinegar.
This is another easy, quick recipe that you can make at any time if you keep the ingredients on hand. Give it a try and see what you think!
Yay! Love this dish. You are the authentic one…I mess it up Laurita style by adding in some brine and red wine. 😉 thanks for sharing!!! Love how you can your own tomatoes. I need to learn that art.
We can in May if you wan to come help next time so you learn how! I learn by doing…
Bwahahaha! The name of this dish cracks me up! It sounds like a delicious twist on a basic dish.
Just a few ingredient changes and it’s a totally new dish! Did ya like the language lesson? 😉
Sounds delicious! I think I need to stock my pantry better.
So on the “interesting name”… do you actually think about what it means when you say it in Italian? Or is it one of those things that that’s just the name of it and you don’t even think about it?
Nah. I don’t think about that. It’s just a name. But the actual word ‘puttana’ yeah, that’s the real deal.
Oh man, so much goodness. I love the smell of garlic roasting.
Yep! They should have a candle…
Commented but then it disappeared. Might be repeating myself here…But while they are creating a garlic candle can we order one in “sauteed onions and green peppers”? Mmmm. Never have cooked with capers but here’s my opportunity to try them. I appreciate a well-stocked pantry and panic when I run out of something or when someone eats the _____ (fill in the blank) that I was going to use in preparing _______. No bueno. Glad to know you are safe.
Yes! I share your pain in feeling panic when someone eats the X that I was going to use in Y recipe. I would like the onions and pepper candle too! Mmmm.