Fusilli with tomatoes, olives and capers
Photo courtesy @nicki_cooks
This pasta is a weekly must after a busy day. It s a genuine store cupboard dish that surprises with its tastiness.
This is our kitchens version of the famous spaghetti alla puttanesca but without the anchovies which are used in many Italian versions of this dish. It’s said though that Naples where the dish supposedly originated from, does not use the fishy anchovies, making their sauce a gift to vegans.
A word about the olives. I never much liked olives in cooked food finding them too strong but that changed when I got a great tip from an Italian chef in Venice. He explained that he and his peers only ever use black Taggiasche olives in cooking. The only problem in the UK is getting hold of them. I get mine from I Camisa & Son in Soho in London.
Ingredients
Serves 2 hungry people
30g capers
1x400g tin cherry tomatoes
250g Fusilli
Parsley to garnish
Sunflower oil
1 onion, white, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, skinned and chopped
1 tbsp rose harissa or 4 good pinches of chilli flakes
50g black olives/taggiasche if you can find them
Method
To make the sauce, gently heat the oil in a pan and add the onion. Fry until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a minute to soften.
Tip in the tin of tomatoes and use a potato masher to squash and break up the tomatoes.
Add the rose harissa, the olives and the capers and stir together. Simmer the sauce for 15 minutes adding a little water if the sauce get too thick.
Meanwhile put the pasta on to cook according to the packet instructions. It should take about 12 minutes.
When the pasta is ready, use a slotted spoon and add the fusilli to your sauce. Stir it and give the pasta a minute to take up some of the flavours.
Serve in bowls with a good sprinkling of parsley.
