[cdbva]

Pasta Puttanesca For Two

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 heaping tablespoon fresh basil
• 6-12 pitted medium-sized kalamata olives
• 1 heaping tablespoon capers, drained
• 1-2 dashes of cayenne pepper (for zing, not for hotness)
• fresh pepper

• 1 lb fresh tomatoes, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped
• 2 oz anchovies, drained

Combine first seven ingredients in a food processor and chop for a few seconds, long enough to make everything smallish. Put mixture in a saucepan and saute gently for two minutes. Remember olive oil burns at a lower temperature than most other oils.

Add tomatoes and anchovies. Simmer on low for about 40 minutes, or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Anchovies will dissolve fairly quickly. (With drier tomatoes, be careful. Cook time may be much less.)

Serve over linguine with grated fresh parmesan cheese.

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Adapted from a recipe by Lidia or Delia, depending on which website was telling the truth.

Notes:

• You may not need to add salt. Wait until you taste it.
• Don't let the anchovies scare you. They don't dominate the flavor like they do on a pizza.
• A little goes a long way. This makes two good-sized servings.
• What makes the difference is good kalamata olives and fresh tomatoes. This recipe is the reason I decided to start growing tomatoes.
• Pasta puttanesca recipes usually leave the olives intact, or chopped in half. My husband hates olives, so I ground them up the first time I made it. He loved it, but I forgot to tell him about the olives! He stopped eating it for a while when he found out. But now he's eating it again.

Christine