This simple dish is one of my go-to recipes during the week when I need to satisfy my neverending craving for pasta because admittedly, pasta is life. This simple spaghetti dish houses the freshness of tomatoes, the saltiness of black olives and capers, savoury chestnut mushrooms, garlic and fresh spinach.
Ingredients
100g Good quality dried spaghetti
4 large ripe tomatoes
1 Large white onion
1 Red bell pepper
100ml Organic Passata
100g Chestnut mushrooms
4 Garlic cloves
1 tsp Agave
1 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp Red chilli flakes
1/2 tsp Oregano
1/4 tsp Smoked Paprika
50g (handful) Black pitted olives
25g Capers
2 Handfuls of fresh spinach
Salt & Pepper
Method
This dish is so simple, the sauce only takes as long as your pasta takes to cook. Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil and add the spaghetti, cook as per packet instructions.
Dice the onion and add to a medium heated pan with a little good quality oil, sauté until translucent. Peel the garlic, pass through a garlic press, add to the pan and saute for 30 secs. Coarsely chop the tomatoes and the red pepper and add to the pan with a little passata, salt and pepper and simmer until the tomatoes begin to reduce. Add the mushrooms, herbs and spices, agave, balsamic and stir through. Cook for 2 mins with the lid on.
Add the olives and capers and simmer for a further 2 minutes. Remove the pasta from the heat and drain, reserving 1/2 a cup of pasta water.
Roughly chop the spinach and stir through the sauce. Add the pasta to the sauce and fold everything through ensuring all the pasta is coated with the sauce. If the sauce is a little thick at this point you can add a little of the reserve pasta water to loosen it up. Season with a little salt and black pepper to taste and serve.
This dish is perfect on its own, accompanied by some garlic ciabatta or with a simple salad. If you are lucky enough to have leftovers, the flavours will develop overnight in the fridge and this can easily be reheated quickly in the microwave or on the stove.
This spaghetti alla puttanesca is tasty on its own but if you really want to indulge why not top it with lashings of my nutty parm?
H x
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