This is not so much a recipe as a lifeline: in case of emergency, open pantry door. It’ll require a little forward planning, since you’ll need to have the goods on hand for whenever a puttanesca hankering strikes – but truly, capers and olives should always be in there anyway, because they’re shortcuts to flavourtown. Splashing the tinned tuna in will pump up the protein, too.
Fish in springwater will retain more of its nutrient content and hold its shape better than fish in oil, but if you’d prefer to stick to oil, an olive oil base is what you’re after. When choosing the best fish in tins from a sustainability perspective, look for labels and logos such as a Marine Stewardship Council “blue tick”. As far as fishing methods go, “dolphin-friendly” is just the beginning, so scan for words such as “pole-and-line caught” or “FAD-free purse seine”. Skipjack is the tuna type to look for, then albacore; try to avoid endangered species such as yellowfin, bluefin and big-eye.
The capers are key to the flavour – I like to think of them as vegan anchovies. You can buy them either brined or salted. They’ll vary in size, from lilliput (teeny tiny!) all the way through to caperberries, which are the natural conclusion to their growth. If brined, they just need to be drained, while salted ones need a rinse or two and a good pat dry before use. I do prefer the salted ones though, as they keep better and have a punchier flavour.
You can use tinned tomatoes instead of passata, or even tomato paste and water, if that’s all you have. If you have some fresh cherry tomatoes handy, blister these along with the olives and capers for a fresh version, and add some chilli to make it fresh and feisty! Pinching in a little sugar is my tip for dialling up the “ripeness” in anything tomato-related – fresh or tinned!
If you’re looking to cut down on cooking time, use fresh pasta such as gnocchi. It will cook in half the time of dried pasta, and even frozen fresh pasta can go straight from the freezer into boiling water.
I like using raw garlic through this dish because the piquancy and kick really cuts through the richness of the sauce. If you’d prefer to keep yours mellow, chuck the garlic in with the tomato paste and give it a quick saute before you stir the passata into the pan.
To make this recipe plant-based, leave the tuna out, use olive oil instead of butter and use a dairy-free hard cheese for grating.
Pantry puttanesca – recipe
Serves 4
½ cup (80g) salted capers, rinsed and drained
100g butter
150g kalamata olives, pitted
A pinch of caster (superfine) sugar
1 heaped tsp tomato paste (concentrated puree)
3 cups (750ml) tomato passata (pureed tomatoes)
350g dried casarecce, penne or any pasta that has ridges or twists
Olive oil, for drizzling
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled
400g tinned tuna in springwater, drained
Finely grated parmigiano reggiano, to serve
Bring a large saucepan of well-salted water to the boil.
Meanwhile, fry the capers in the butter over medium-high heat for about three to four minutes or until crispy and golden. The butter will foam – a sight to behold. Pour through a metal sieve into a small bowl then pour the butter back into the pan, leaving the capers in the sieve over the bowl for garnishing later.
Add the olives to the pan, sprinkle in the sugar, crank the heat up high and toss about for three to four minutes, until the olives start to change colour and blister.
(If you’re in a hurry, you could always forget cooking the capers and olives separately and just toss them in together with the butter and leave them both in the pan.)
Stir the tomato paste through the olives and cook out the rawness of the tomatoes for a minute or two. Pour in the passata and bring to the boil. Splosh another cup’s worth of water around the passata jar to clean out the dregs, then pour that in, too. Simmer vigorously for about 10 minutes, until reduced slightly; a splatter guard won’t go astray here.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Drain, reserving a mugful of the cooking water. (If not using it right away, pop the pasta back in the empty pot and drizzle well with olive oil to stop it sticking.)
Crush the garlic into the pan. Flake the tuna in. Pour the pasta and a splosh of the reserved pasta water over the top and stir in with a spatula so the pasta is well coated and the residual heat mellows the garlic out a little. The liquid will be reabsorbed by the pasta before you know it.
Serve sprinkled with the crispy capers, parmesan, black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil if desired.
This is an edited extract from The Joy of Better Cooking by Alice Zaslavsky, photography by Ben Dearnley, published by Murdoch Books in Australia ($55) and the UK (£25), and available as Better Cooking in Canada and the US, published by Appetite by Random House (US$35)
