Spaghetti a la Putanesca

Alistar Little recommended in one of his early books that you should always have the ingredients ready for this dish in you larder.
There are as my good friend Umberto once said as many recipes for this dish as puttanas in a certain streel in Naples !
Also there are several theories about the origins of the Putanesca sauce some involving the oldest profession and others not . Wikipedia covers most http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puttanesca
Any way here is the one I follow and adore !

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1/3 cup olive oil
10 anchovies -
8 whole garlic cloves
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
6 medium San Marzano tomatoes, chopped & seeded with juice, or one can San Marzano tomatoes
12 Kalamata olives, pitted & halved or chopped to taste
3 tsp capers, drained
3-4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
400grams of Dried Spaghettini/Fedelinni or even Linguini, for example Di Martino or your favourite artisan brand , personally I always favour pasta di Gragnano and the Di Martino or Faella brands . The rougher exterior of Gragnano pasta seems to embrace sauces in a unique way. This sauce is better suited to long thin dried pasta (do not use fresh pasta) .

In skillet, heat olive oil. Add crushed red pepper flakes and anchovies (stiring and crushing into the oil) cook for 90 seconds then add chopped garlic . Cook until garlic begins to brown a bit and anchovies fall apart. . Add tomatoes, olives and capers. Simmer sauce 8-10 minutes.Add some of the pasta water to the skillett just before the pasta is ready to serve say half a cup.

Add a bit more chopped garlic, parsley and basil. Simmer a few minutes more. Serve on cooked ( al dente of course ) pasta and then 1/3 of a cup more pasta water when you mix everything up. (No Parmigiano Reggiano or any other cheese for that matter are required to this dish )

Tinned Tomatoes : A tip !

Why do certain tomato based sauces taste so much better than others ?

As with most dishes a combination of cooking ability and good ingredients make a big difference.

Ideally if you are preparing say a simple tomato sauce for pasta based on garlic , olive oil , tomatoes , sea salt, black pepper and fresh basil and you can get some fresh ripe San Marzano plum tomatoes it's very difficult to fail.

However the best tomatoes are seasonal (May to September) and the rest of the year most of us that do not live in Mediterranean climes have to make do with tins or jars of tomatoes.

Unfortunately on the whole supermarkets in the UK apart from rarely stocking any edible fresh tomatoes also have poor quality tinned ones either from well known brands or own label. These tend to be both pasteurised and acidic .

If you live in the UK and get get your hands on Annalisa or San Remo brands you will not be disappointed. They also have excellent tinned cherry tomatoes and are available from good Italian Delis.