Puttanesca sauce, a phrase which here means a tomato-based concoction so brash and unapologetic that it announces itself long before you are prepared for it, is not a sauce for the faint of heart, the delicate of palate, or anyone hoping for a quiet evening. It arrives heavy with olives, capers, anchovies, and garlic - ingredients that have spent their lives learning how to be noticed. The tomatoes attempt to provide comfort, but are quickly overwhelmed, much like a well-meaning guardian faced with chaos, shouting, and an alarming amount of salt. Each bite is sharp, briny, and insistent, leaving no room for denial and even less for subtlety. One might think such a sauce would be exhausting, and indeed it is, but it is also strangely compelling. Like many unfortunate things, it is honest about what it is and makes no attempt to be polite. If you choose to eat puttanesca, you should know that it will linger…on your tongue, in your thoughts, and quite possibly in your kitchen, long after the meal is over.

A Series Puttanesca Sauce Events

Ingredients

1 tbs olive oil
1/2 onion
3 cloves garlic
3 anchovies
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp oregano
2 tbs capers
1/2 cup black olives
1 tbs tomato paste
1/4 cup red wine
1 14.5 oz can Fire Roasted Tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped parsley
3 large basil leaves

Directions

Heat a small sauce pan over medium heat
Dice the onion and garlic and add to the heated sauce pan with the olive oil, anchovies, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and oregano. Cook until onions are translucent.
Chop the capers and olives. Add the capers and olives with the tomato paste and stir to combine. Cook 3-5 minutes.
Deglaze the pan with the red wine scraping up any tomato paste off the bottom of the pan. Using an emulsion blender puree the ingredients together. Add the fire roasted tomatoes.
Add the parsley to the sauce and simmer on low for 30 minutes.
Chiffonade the basil and add to the sauce.
Use on pizza, calzones, cutlets, or pasta.