I love the salty, briny, deep, rich flavors of a good Puttanesca sauce. I don't always have the time to make it from scratch. Tonight the kids wanted pasta for dinner. I had some nice sausage and cheese tortellinis in my fridge. But as how to serve them up, I was uninspired. I could make a brown butter and sage sauce, but I wasn't really in the mood to eat such. I had a couple of jars of marinara in the pantry. Plain and ordinary marinara. I am a tinkerer and plain and ordinary does not become me. I opened up the jar, poured it into a sauce pan and started adding some freshly diced garlic, Kalamata olives and capers. I was creating, in essence a hearty Puttanesca sauce that would perfectly accompany our tortellinis. As it sat simmering I poured in a hearty serving of red wine to deepen the flavor. I had, in my mind, after first taste, created a perfect sauce!
Ingredients:
1 jar good quality marinara sauce
4 cloves of garlic, minced
12 (or so) pitted Kalamata olives, diced
2 tbs capers
1/4 to 1/2 cup good red wine -- whatever you happen to be drinking as you cook!
In a sauce pan over medium heat add the marinara sauce, garlic, olives, capers and wine. As it starts to bubble (not boil) turn heat to low and let simmer about 30 minutes. The sauce will thicken and deepen in color. The flavors will become rich, and briny yet earthy from the wine.
This sauce could not be easier to make.
It would also be marvelous served over chicken, in which case I would double the recipe
I am well aware that most Puttanesca sauces are devoid of wine. But this is me we're talking about :)
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