vegan
This deliciously spicy Neopolitan sauce, named after what I’ll just call “the ladies of the night”, is one of my all-time favorites. I use my homemade slow-roasted Roma tomatoes as the base, which makes this sauce freakin incredible and really blows it out of this world. So does tossing it with lots of fresh basil, arugula, and finishing with freshly shaved pecorino romano cheese.
1 lb box good quality spinach linguini
2 cups slow-roasted oven tomatoes, blitzed in food processor to desired consistency
4 fat cloves finely chopped garlic
crushed red pepper flakes to taste
2 tbs capers (preferably in salt) rinsed very well
1/4 cup roughly chopped pitted kalamata olives, lightly rinsed
Handful of arugula
Handful of fresh basil, coarsely chopped
Kosher sea salt
extra virgin olive oil
Be sure to have your pasta pot right next to a big skillet. Don’t use non-stick. I love my All-Clad.
Cook the pasta to al dente in a big pot of water liberally salted with the kosher sea salt. You want to time this so that it will be ready in concert with the sauce preparation.
To make the sauce, heat about 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil on low heat in the skillet. Add the garlic, chili flakes, and anchovies (if using) just until everything starts to melt together and lightly sizzles. It’s best to begin while the oil is still cool to avoid burning the garlic. Keep your eye on it.
Now add the tomatoes, stir and let it simmer for a minute. Inhale the incredible aroma that is sure to get your stomach so excited it’s about to jump out of your mouth. Add the kalamatas and capers, stir, and simmer a little more. This sauce does not really need to be “cooked”, just gently heated through.
By now your perfectly al dente linguini should be ready to go into the skillet. Turn the heat off both burners, and, using a pasta fork or tool of choice, ladle the pasta right in. Don’t worry if it holds on to water. Pasta water is a good thing. After you get it all in there, gently toss to get all that good puttanesca sauce on every strand.
Finally, throw in the basil and arugula and toss again. Distribute the pasta onto serving plates. At this stage I like to add a drizzle of an excellent, high quality extra virgin olive oil (one you wouldn’t cook with). Then finish it off with some pecorino-romano shavings. Buon appetito!
<3, JMK
P.S. I also plan on developing a raw version of this dish which I think will be marvelous. This last time around, however, there was no substitute for my desire of the real thing :)
