In Italian, a puttanesca is a 'lady of the night', which is why Delia Smith's red hot sauce is fiery, strong and gutsy
Pasta puttanesca (tart's spaghetti)
Method
1. To make the sauce, heat the oil in a medium saucepan, then add the garlic, chilli and basil and cook these briefly till the garlic is pale gold. Then add all the other sauce ingredients, stir and season with a little pepper - but no salt yet because of the anchovies.
2. Turn the heat to low and let the sauce simmer very gently without a lid for 40 minutes, by which time it will have reduced to a lovely thick mass, with very little liquid left.
3. While the sauce is cooking, take your largest saucepan, fill it with at least 2.25 litres of hot water and bring it up to a gentle simmer. Add a few drops of olive oil and a little salt and then, 8 minutes before the sauce is ready, plunge the spaghetti into the water. Stir well to prevent it clogging together, then time it for exactly 8 minutes.
4. After that drain it in a colander, return it to the saucepan presto pronto, and toss the sauce in it, adding the basil. Mix thoroughly and serve in well-heated bowls, with lots of grated Parmesan to sprinkle over - and have plenty of gutsy, 'tarty' Italian red wine to wash it down.
Visit DeliaOnline.com for more recipes from the programme.
Cook: 45 min
Ingredients
250g spaghetti, or more if you are hungry3 drops Olive oil
1 pinch Salt
For the sauce
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and chopped
2 tsp Basil, fresh, chopped
50g anchovies, drained
175g pitted black olives, chopped
1 tbsp capers, drained
450g Tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 tbsp tomato purée, rounded
1 pinch salt and fresh ground black pepper
For the garnish
2 tbsp Basil, fresh, chopped4 tbsp Parmesan, (Parmigiano Reggiano), freshly grated
Top Sponsored Searches
Advertisement
You may also like
Print
Save
Share
Offers & Promotions
Afternoon tea, curry cookery courses and more!
Competitions: great prizes up for grabs
