Slut's Spaghetti

I found this recipe from the Nigella Lawson app on my iPhone.  Russ made it tonight and it was really good! We used green olives instead of black, and didn't have the real peppers so we used crushed chillis. 

Nigella Lawson's description: This is the translation of pasta alla puttanesca, whore’s pasta as it usually is described in English. The general consensus seems to be that this is the sort of dish cooked by slatterns who don’t go to market to get their ingredients fresh, but are happy to use stuff out of jars and tins. I hold my hands up to that. Or maybe one should just attribute the name gamely to the fiery tang and robust saltiness of the dish?

Please fire up the sauce if you want, but do know that even though the first mouthful might seem not quite hot enough, the heat builds as you eat. I sometimes go a little cross-cultural in my chilli-case and use red hot pickled jalapeños from a jar on the Tex-Mex shelves of the supermarket. And while you’re there, do look out for the tiny French nonpareil (or nonpareilles) capers: they may be smaller but they pack more of a pungent punch than the larger capers.


3 tbsps olive oil
8 anchovy fillets, drained and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
½ tsp crushed chilli flakes or 1–2 tbsps pickled red jalapeño chilli peppers OR 1–2 tbsps pickled red jalapeño chilli peppers
1 pound spaghetti
1 can (14 oz) chopped tomatoes
6 oz pitted black olives, chopped
2 tbsps small capers, rinsed and drained
2–3 tbsps fresh parsley, chopped, optional
salt and pepper, to taste

Step 1

Put water for pasta on to boil, though you don’t need to get started on the sauce until it is pretty well boiling.

Step 2

Pour the oil into a wide, shallowish frying pan, casserole or wok that will fit in the pasta later.

Step 3

Add the anchovies and cook for about 3 minutes, pressing with a wooden spoon, until they have almost “melted”, then add the garlic and chilli flakes (or sliced then diced jalapeños) and cook, stirring for another minute.

Step 4

This is probably the stage at which you will want to be salting the boiling pasta water and adding the spaghetti to cook according to packet instructions.

Step 5

Going back to the sauce, add the tomatoes, olives and capers and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every now and again, by which time it will have thickened slightly. Taste for seasoning.

Step 6

Just before the pasta is ready, reserve a small cupful of cooking water. When the pasta is cooked, drain and add it to the sauce, adding a little reserved pasta water, if needed, to help it amal-
gamate. Scatter with parsley.


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