Pasta Puttanesca

Some friends and I met for dinner last weekend in the North End. Although I accidentally ordered sausage-stuffed, bacon-wrapped chicken (our server was new on the job...), I did try my friend's Swordfish Puttanesca.

It wasn't good. The thin swordfish steaks were overcooked and fishy, and therefore, so was the sauce. So, I set out to make my own, which we ate just an hour ago. (Dinner was done by 6:45pm—this meal is a keeper!)


I just learned that this is not a traditional Italian dish, so, in contrast with my last post, it was not developed in response to seasonal ingredients. I also learned that "Pasta Puttanesca" means "Pasta the Way a Whore Would Make It." Ours was a slutty whole wheat penne, I guess, and it was darn good. I basically modified Wolfgang Puck's recipe so that it took about 20 minutes to make, substituting canned diced tomatoes and kalamata olives, adding white wine, and eliminating the oregano, parsley, and parmesan.