One pan Otto Puttanesca

January 8, 2021
Mains
Family Verdict:
5
/10

Ingredients

50ml olive oil, plus 2 tbsp extra to serve
6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained and patted dry
2 tsp hot smoked paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
¾ tbsp tomato paste
Salt and black pepper
40g parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped
2 tsp lemon zest
4 tbsp baby capers
80g good-quality green olives, pitted and roughly torn
250g cherry tomatoes
2 tsp caster sugar
½ tbsp caraway seeds, lightly toasted and crushed
250g dried orecchiette
500ml vegetable stock

Put the first six ingredients and two teaspoons of salt in a large saute pan for which you have a lid, then put it on a medium heat and fry gently for eight minutes, stirring often, until the chickpeas are slightly crisp. Transfer a third of the chickpeas to a small bowl, to use as a garnish.

In a second bowl, combine the parsley, lemon zest, capers and olives, then add two-thirds of this mix to the saute pan with the cherry tomatoes, sugar and caraway seeds, and cook for two minutes more, stirring often.

Add the pasta, stock and 200ml water, and bring up to a simmer. Turn the heat to medium, cover with a lid and leave to cook, undisturbed, for 12-14 minutes, until the pasta is al dente

Stir in the remaining parsley mixture, drizzle with the remaining two tablespoons of oil, and garnish with the fried chickpeas and a good grind of pepper.

Method

This is a bit of a dilemma for me, because it's an ottolenghi recipe that I can't recommend. I am not sure if that has happened to me before. I get the feeling that he is stretching himself a little too thin and this for me is a case of taking a good, simple recipe and complicating it. No problem if you improve the result, but here I don't believe it is the case. Puttanesca isa classic simple sauce which is spicy and satisfying in ti's simplicity. This is complicated and confused - neither Italian or North African in result and although it got eaten, I can't imagine it will get cooked again. It's only real point of difference is cooking the pasta in the sauce, but big deal.

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