Sardine Pasta Puttanesca
Updated Feb. 16, 2024
- Total Time
- 40 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Ingredients
- Salt
- 1pound long pasta, like spaghetti, bucatini or linguine
- 3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2(4- to 4.5-ounce) cans sardines packed in olive oil (see Tip), not drained
- 4anchovy fillets
- 6garlic cloves, smashed with the side of a chef’s knife then chopped
- Red-pepper flakes, to taste
- 2pints/about 4 cups cherry tomatoes
- ¾cup pitted black olives, very roughly chopped
- ¼cup drained capers
- 1small handful parsley sprigs, finely chopped
Preparation
- Step 1
Bring a high-sided skillet or medium pot of water to a boil and season with salt. Add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until floppy but still quite raw in the center (about 4 minutes shy of the cook time suggested on the package). Drain pasta, reserving 4 cups of the cooking liquid.
- Step 2
When the pasta is nearly cooked, heat a medium Dutch oven over medium-low. Add the olive oil, the oil from the sardines, the anchovies and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic is just beginning to turn golden and the anchovies have broken down, about 3 minutes. Add red-pepper flakes and cook, stirring frequently, until aromatic, about 30 seconds.
- Step 3
Add the tomatoes and 2 cups of the reserved pasta cooking liquid and increase heat to medium. Bring to a simmer and cook until the tomatoes are warmed through and slightly softened, 4 to 6 minutes. Use a wooden spoon or potato masher to roughly smash them. Continue simmering until the tomato juices have slightly thickened into a sauce, about 5 minutes.
- Step 4
Add the drained pasta and cook, stirring vigorously, until the sauce coats the noodles and the pasta has cooked to your desired final texture, adding more pasta cooking liquid as needed, about 2 minutes. Add the sardines, olives, capers and parsley, stirring to evenly distribute and break up the sardines. Divide among plates and serve right away.
- The size of sardine cans typically ranges from 4 to 4.5 ounces. You don’t have to be precise in this recipe, so buy any can that falls somewhere within that size range. This recipe works with both whole sardines and boneless, skinless fillets.
Private Notes
Comments
There are enough sardines in the sea to feed the world, and we should be eating more of them. Quality counts--most grocery-store sardines come from Morocco and are industrially processed. Those from Spain and Portugal are generally better quality. A separate note: Italians would never put six garlic cloves in puttanesca. We brown a couple cloves in the oil, then remove them so as not to overpower the other flavors.
I love this general technique and use it often, but a warning: careful when you smash those tomatoes! They're little juice-bombs and will happily make a mess of you and your stove and anything else within spitting distance. I pierce each one with a knife before tossing them into the pan to mitigate their explosiveness.
I love this recipe. A huge hit. My only modification was that I let the tomatoes sauté in the oil a bit longer than the recipe calls for before I added the pasta water. Otherwise, I think the tomatoes sort of boil instead of fry. NB: As with all dishes that cook the pasta along with the other ingredients, for a few moments it seems like you've added too much water and are inadvertently making a soup. Don't despair. A moment later the pasta absorbs everything and all is well.
I followed this recipe to a t and it did not disappointment. The flavors melded perfectly. It was filling and nutritious!
Delicious! Made with 15 oz canned tomatoes since I didn't have fresh on hand. Only needed 2 c of pasta water. As someone else said, trust the process, have faith when adding the water and the pasta. Would like more tomatoes. Next time may add fresh and canned. Could use more capers. Goes in the rotation as a great pantry meal.
Made to the recipe. Boy, my family just did not like it. Too bad because it sounded great.