Super Yummy Puttanesca

Salty, briny, garlicky, fierce. Puttanesca is the kind of pasta sauce Italian cooks throw together from pantry staples and end up with something punchier than any tomato sauce has a right to be.

The anchovies are not optional. Eight fillets dissolve completely into the simmering tomatoes, leaving no fishy taste behind, only depth and salt. If you’ve ever skipped them and wondered why your puttanesca felt flat, that’s why.

Mincing the celery and red pepper instead of dicing them lets the vegetables melt into the sauce rather than chunk it up. Pressing fresh Roma tomatoes through a food mill keeps the sauce smooth without seeds or skins. The two olive types, green and black, do different work. Green brings acidity. Black brings richness.

A short simmer with the aromatics, then a longer simmer with the olives, capers, basil, and chili, gives the sauce time to deepen without flattening the bright acidity from the tomatoes.

Chef Tips

• Use oil-packed anchovies, not salt-packed. Salt-packed need a heavy rinse and bone-removal first.
• Hold off on extra salt until the end. Anchovies, olives, and capers all bring sodium of their own.
• Toss the hot pasta with a knob of butter before saucing. It helps the sauce coat the strands.
• Spaghetti, linguine, or bucatini are the classic shapes. Long strands grab the chunky sauce best.

Variations

• Add a splash of white wine after the garlic softens for an extra layer of acidity.
• Stir in a handful of canned tuna at the end for puttanesca alla siciliana.
• Swap Kalamata olives for the black olives for a meatier brine.