This is essentially a tomato sauce spaghetti with olives, capers and anchovies. Let’s talk anchovies. If you don’t like them don’t worry, you will not taste them, I promise. I can’t get my husband to eat anything remotely fishy and he loves this dish. The anchovies do add amazing, savory flavor to the sauce and therefore are a must!
The olives, which are another important component, give the dish its distinct look. Traditionally Italian Gaeta olives are used, but they are harder to find, so Greek Kalamata olives are the closest substitute, which are similar in look and flavor.
This pasta puttanesca is the epitome of the Mediterranean diet and the perfect 30 minute meal. There’s a reason why the Italians and Greek are healthy and live long lives. It is due to using good quality ingredients and good fats.
Where this is a vegetarian/pescatarian dish, you can also make this vegan puttanesca by leaving out the anchovies, or substitute with red miso paste. The most important part of this pasta dish is the whole tomatoes that make up the sauce. San Marzano are the gold standard when it comes to canned/tinned tomatoes. These famous tomatoes originate from Naples in the Campania region of Italy. There are some imposters out there that say they are San Marzano, but they are not so be cautious. San Marzano tomatoes are the gold standard when it comes to quality that originate from Naples in the Campania region of Italy. They must have a D.O.P certification on the label and have symbols that say ‘denominazione d’origine protetta’ and ‘pomodoro s. marzano dell’agro sarnese-nocerino’ which denotes they are protected by law along with an assigned number (see pic above). If it has all of this and the label is in Italian, you’re good to go. Where it comes to the type of pasta used, spaghetti is the traditional pasta used for puttanesca. Besides, slurping a delicious plate of spaghetti is always such good fun!
