I had this dish in an Italian restaurant, probably 10 years ago. I’ve been making it ever since, but don’t know what it’s called. It must have been a special, because I’ve asked about it since at the same place, but the wait staff don’t recognize it.
The sauce is more a paste, with tomato paste, sliced green olives, capers, and some sort of hot stuff, like hot paprika, red pepper powder or flakes. That’s it. It was served tossed with penne/ziti/rigatoni. It’s an incredibly easy recipe, and packs a huge taste-to-effort ratio. Even the 8-year-old likes it.
Ring a bell? Every recipe I’ve found on the 'net has had meat or fish in it, plus most have tomatoes instead of paste.
Sounds like a type of Puttanesca. The capers/olives combination is classic. While many Puttanesca recipes use anchovies, they’re neither required, nor necessarily classic.
It’s possible the restaurant original used crushed tomatoes rather than tomato paste. The texture is thicker than tomato sauce, and it’s used a lot in tomato-based Italian dishes.
Whatever it’s called, may I have the recipe? Sounds like something my family would go ape for.
1 can tomato puree (you can be more traditional by using paste and just enough water to allow it to coat the pasta well)
around 10-20 green olives
2-3 tsp capers
hot paprika, cayenne, or red pepper flakes to taste (I tone it down for the non-chile heads and season on the plate)
Slice olives, mix everything up and heat. Toss it with the pasta and serve with fresh-grated parmesan or romano.
This is enough for around 1/2-3/4 box (8-10 oz dry) penne
This is a great dish for a weeknight when you’ve had a rough day and want something really tasty while putting out a minimum of effort. It’s also something you can serve to the most ardent carnivore without him missing meat in the least. Goes well with a Rhone or Italian red or a nice bitter ale or pilsner.
Really, what you’ve got there is a mixture. An Arrabiata is a pasta made with tomatoes and hot chilies. A Puttanesca is a pasta made with tomatoes, olives, garlic and capers (and sometimes anchovies).
I make a similar pasta from a cookbook called “Vegetarian Fire and Spice” by Robin Robertson. She notes that “puttanesca” means “streetwalker/hooker” and “arrabiata” means “angry,” and suggests that combining the classic Puttanesca combination with the chili would make it “angry streetwalker” pasta!
Thanks for the interesting conversation, everyone. My boss is Italian; he’s told me a couple of interesting origins of Italian food names, I’ll see if he knows about/has anything to say about these.
Oh, this one has an interesting story behind it. I’m mystified why a person of that occupation would wish to consume anchovies and garlic, though. Revenge?
I don’t speak Italian myself, so I’m just going on what the chef said.
I could see it being either way…though, to be honest, Arab food doesn’t tend to be spicy in that way (it leans more toward cumin, mint and parsley than toward chili). When I saw the commentary in the cook book, my first thought was "of course…it’s got the same root as the English “rabid.”
That’s true enough, but for centuries until the chili family arrived in Europe from the new world, arabs controlled the pepper trade from the east indies to Europe.
Anyway, my derivation is no more authoritative than yours, because I’m pretty sure that this factoid is something I read on a menu in an Italian restaurant.
Let me settle this once and for all. It’s called pasta with tomato paste, sliced olives and capers. My brother brings me quart jars of Italian olive salid that he buys in New Orleans. Green olives, capers, and other garden vegetables are packed with olive oil. I love it. It is what makes the mufaletta sandwich in New Orleans so special. I am going to use this with pasta, as Charles has recommended.
Just to add, I spoke to a friend of mine today who does speak Italian, and she confirmed that “arrabiata” means “angry.” It can evidently have the connotation of “hot tempered,” which is likely how it got applied to the spicy pasta sauce.
