Pasta Puttanesca And Easy To Eat Open-Faced Burger

We’ve had a Puttanesca Sauce several times on fish and chicken but never on pasta until our final tasting in Sorrento and we loved it so I just had to try making it.  For the fish version, I had adapted recipes from two fellow bloggers and for the pasta version, I adapted that version plus one from “Simply Recipes” to get the one below.  The major difference is that the pasta version has more tomatoes that are cooked down into a marinara-like sauce.

Pasta Puttanesca

Ingredients:

1 lb. spaghetti

½ onion, chopped

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

6 anchovy fillets, coarsely chopped (or 3 tsp paste)

2 tbsp tomato paste

28 ounces crushed tomatoes, with their juices

1 tsp lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano

½ cup quartered mixed green olives

½ cup pitted halved lengthwise Kalamata olives

¼ rounded cup capers

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper, or more to taste

salt to taste

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, or more to taste

Parmesan cheese (optional) 

Directions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (1 tablespoon of salt for every 2 quarts of water). While the water is heating, start making the sauce.

Cook the pasta per pkg directions.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, deep sauté pan. When the oil is hot, cook the onions until they're soft and translucent, about 4 to 5 minutes.

While the onions are cooking, stir in the anchovies along with some of the oil from the can.

Add the finely chopped garlic and cook another minute.

Mix in the tomato paste and cook it for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the crushed tomatoes, oregano, chili pepper flakes, olives, lemon juice, and capers. Bring the sauce to a simmer, then lower the heat to low to maintain a gentle simmer, 10 to 15 minutes.

Drain the pasta and return to the pan.

Add a ladle's worth of sauce to the pasta and mix to combine.

Serve in shallow bowls with more sauce on top.

Top with shaved pecorino or grated parmesan.

The Verdict:

We thought it was delicious and as good as we remember from Italy and maybe better.  The sauce was very thick without the water and I thinned it to the desired consistency after the pics.

Easy To Eat Open-Faced Burger

Ever bit into a hamburger and have the toppings begin to squirt out the sides – of course you have, especially with a tough crusted bun.  But if you use a soft bun, it will often disintegrate before the sandwich is finished.  I don’t like either of these so I came up with a solution – eat it open-faced (less carbs) with a knife and fork, but wait, the sliced toppings will still have a mind of their own, especially the tomatoes.  So, my solution to that is chop all of the toppings and glue them in place.

This burger was eaten on a tough crusted two-day-old ciabatta roll with no problems.  First, I added the mustard to the roll to glue in the onion and pickles.

Then I added the burger topped with mayo to glue on the tomatoes.

It’s not as sexy as this one of Bev’s but the taste is virtually the same and it’s a lot easier to eat.

Photos can be slightly enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

6/9 & 6/12/25 event dates