• Home
  • Contact
  • Recipes
  • Edible Gifts

Cornucopia Cooks

Cornucopia kor-nuh-KOH-pee-uh. noun - the horn of plenty, symbol of abundance

  • Cook to Order
  • Private Dining
  • The pop in and pop out
  • Cooking Classes
  • Cornucopia events

Nigel Slater’s spaghetti alla puttanesca

August 21, 2012 By Sandy

Nigel Slater’s classic spaghetti alla puttanesca recipe

Nigel Slater's spaghetti alla puttanesca

Nigel’s deliciously hot and salty spaghetti alla puttanesca recipe. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin for the Observer

This quick supper dish should be salty, piquant and hot. The saltiness comes from anchovies and olives; the piquancy from the tomatoes and the effect of the capers; the heat from dried chilli flakes. Spaghetti puttanesca is not a genteel dish – it should in fact be a little coarse and the flavours should explode in the mouth. It is the best of all standby dishes, ready in minutes and made from ingredients you probably have.

 

THE RECIPE

Serves 4

2 cloves garlic

½ tsp dried chilli flakes

8 anchovy fillets

4 tbsp olive oil

800g chopped tomatoes

500g dried pasta

100g black olives

1 tbsp capers

Warm 2 thinly sliced cloves of garlic, half a tsp of dried chilli flakes and 8 chopped anchovy fillets in a frying pan with 4 tbsp of olive oil. Stir as it cooks for a couple of minutes until the anchovies start to disintegrate. Turn up the heat and add 800g chopped tomatoes. Leave to cook for 20 minutes or so. Cook 500g of pasta in deep, furiously boiling, generously salted water for about 9 minutes (check the packet). When the sauce is ready, stir in 100g of black olives and 1 tbsp of capers, then toss with the lightly drained pasta.

THE TRICK

Don’t be timid: this is a big, gutsy sauce and demands boldness in the cook. Yes, it’s a little sharp and hot and salty, and that is exactly how it should be. The best anchovies to use are the salt-packed variety, rinsed and patted dry. The bottled version is a little too mild, though it will, of course, do. You can use canned tomatoes – most Italians do. Go for Napolina. No Parmesan is necessary. It would be an overdose of salty notes.

 

THE TWIST

The best versions stick to this recipe, but there is a twist that involves including pieces of tuna dropped into the pan after the anchovies have started to break up.

Filed Under: Tips and information

This week at Cornucopia Cooks

This week at Cornucopia cooks

Anything for carnival?

Current Freezer Stock

Check out what's in the freezer

Latest blogs

Thinking of a party at home this spring / summer?

Could outsourcing the food element help persuade you?

Malaysian and basic cooking classes

Fancy a Malaysian or a basic skills cooking class?

More Posts from this Category

Customer comments

Anniversary lunch for 18, Saturday 7 May

Everyone was commenting on the quality of the food and how lucky we are to have Cornucopia in the village.

60th Birthday dinner, Saturday 30 April 2022

thank you very much for providing such delicious food and a lovely venue

More Posts from this Category

Sandy’s latest recipes

Short Ribs, Korean style

Mejedra / mejudra

Mango, lime and ginger cheesecake

All recipes

Recipes

Tweets

  • Thank you to @YourSSE for your prompt response and communication with respect to power outage in parts of Eynsham. November 16, 2020 7:52 pm
  • Thank you to @lyallandco and @EynshamCellars for rehousing my freezer stock while @YourSSE restore power due to an… https://t.co/qMQ9ExGAfM November 16, 2020 7:49 pm
  • go to twitter

Search the website

Contact

1, High Street, Eynsham, Witney, Oxon, OX29 4HA [email protected] 07551876285

Copyright © 2022 Cornucopia Cooks