Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

By RecipeLot

Spaghetti alla puttanesca (Italian: "whore's spaghetti") is a spicy, tangy and somewhat salty Italian pasta dish. According to Annarita Cuomo, writer for Il Golfo, a newspaper serving the Italian islands of Ischia and Procida, sugo alla puttanesca was invented in the 1950s by Sandro Petti, co-owner of Rancio Fellone, a famous Ischian restaurant and nightspot.[http://www.ilgolfo.it/t/storehtm/htm19/17Feb0501f Annarita Cuomo's story on the origin of spaghetti alla puttanesca] Apparently, when near closing one evening, Petti found a group of hungry friends sitting at one of his tables. Petti was low on ingredients and told them he didn't have enough to make them a meal. They complained that it was late and they were hungry. "Facci una puttanata qualsiasi" ("make any kind of garbage"), they insisted. Petti had nothing more than four tomatoes, two olives and some capers; the basic ingredients for the sugo. "So I used them to make the sauce for the spaghetti," Petti told Cuomo. Later, Petti included the dish on his menu as spaghetti alla puttanesca. Ingredients vary a bit among chefs and cooks according to individual tastes. However, this version (from Lazio) always includes anchovies, while a Neapolitan version never does.[http://www.portanapoli.com/Ita/Cucina/ga_puttanesca.html Neapolitan recipe for spaghetti alla puttanesca on Portonapoli][http://www.accademiaitalianacucina.it/ricetta.php?id=889 Recipe on the site for the Accademia Italiana della Cucina] An Italian-American version of this dish has emerged that omits butter and oregano but includes onions, anchovies and chile peppers.[http://www.mediterrasian.com/delicious_recipes_pasta_puta.htm Pasta puttanesca recipe on Mediterrasian.com] Shrimp and scallops sautéd in olive oil go beautifully with this dish. If you can't eat shellfish then add canned tuna or broiled salmon to the pasta before coating it with sugo.

• Cooking time: 20 minutes
• Servings: 6