pasta del giorno (1)

puttanesca, always puttanesca:

first of all, a friend of mine in New York has a very good post on this very subject:

http://casualkitchen.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html

... so there's no need to go into the recipe details, as Dan has it detailed it really well, right down to the "anchovy conundrum". The story behind the name, though .......

The name originated in Naples after the local prostitutes, Pasta alla Puttanesca meaning "Pasta in the way a whore would make it". The reason why the dish gained such a name is debated. One possibility is that the name is a reference to the sauce's hot, spicy flavour and smell. Another is that the dish was offered to prospective customers at a low price to entice them into a house of ill repute. A more thorough story about this dish comes from Diane Seed in her book, Top 100 Pasta Sauces. She says:

"My introduction to this famous pasta dish occurred when I overheard two elderly priests discussing the pros and cons of Spaghetti alla Puttanesca ("Whore's spaghetti") as they deliberated over the menu in a Neapolitan restaurant. Made of ingredients found in most Italian larders, this is also known as 'Spaghetti alla Buona Donna' - or 'Good Woman's Spaghetti' - which can be misleading if one is not familiar with the ironic insult 'figlio d'una buona donna' - son of a good woman.To understand how this sauce came to get its name, one must consider the 1950s when brothels in Italy were state-owned. They were known as case chiuse or 'closed houses' because the shutters had to be kept permanently closed to avoid offending the sensibilities of neighbors or innocent passers-by. Conscientious Italian housewives usually shop at the local market every day to buy fresh food, but the 'civil servants' were only allowed one day per week for shopping, and their time was valuable. Their speciality became a sauce made quickly from odds and ends in the larder."

I love this dish for the variations that you can make, although I'm sure that in Italy you'd be hung, drawn and quartered for moving away from mamma's recipe by even one anchovy!! If you love the taste of capers, as I do, you can either add more, or substitute larger caper berries. Anchovies always seem to be able to left out if required, but I really recommend perservering a few times, you never know, it might happen for you! The amount of chilli, obviously, can be varied a lot, and I use whichever pasta I have in the pantry, but spaghetti puttanesca is my favourite, although penne does hold the sauce better.