Angry harlot's pasta sauce

Monday, I was thinking about what I wanted to prepare for dinner as I was driving home from the office. I knew I had some fresh Italian sausage that I wanted to cook, but I wanted something different than my usual pasta sauce with sausage. 

When I arrived home, I decided to make a version of Spaghetti alla Puttanesca. Tradition has it, that this style of sauce, with hot peppers, anchovies, capers and olives, was often made by ladies of the night, between business appointments, because it was quick and easy to prepare. If one of them was real angry, she might add extra hot peppers, and end up with this version.

Olive oil

1/2 cup of white wine

1 small onion

10 basil leaves

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

3 large cloves of garlic

3 long thin hot peppers

1 tsp. of drained capers

12 oil cured black olives

2 oz. tin of anchovies, drained

1/2 tsp. oregano

28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes

1/2 lb. of thick spaghetti, cooked and drained

Preparation

Place the onion and the basil leaves in a blender. Add the thyme leaves, a drizzle of olive oil, and the white wine. Pulse until the onion and herbs are coarsely chopped.

Take a cutting board, and slice the olives off the pits, and coarsely chomp them. Smash and mince the garlic, and chop the anchovies. Heat a medium dutch oven, and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Add the olives, anchovies, garlic and capers. Stir and let that sizzle to soften the garlic, but don’t brown it.

Add the wine/onion/herb mix from the blender. Stir and let that come to a simmer. Stir for about a minute, and then add the crushed tomatoes. Bring that to a boil, reduce to a gentle simmer. Simmer, stirring often, for no more than five minutes, and you are ready to serve.

Serving

Serve a large mound of thick spaghetti on a plate, and smother it in this spicy sauce. Add a couple Italian sausages and grate some imported Parmesan over the plate. Pick out a good Italian red wine, slice the homemade bread, and ring the dinner bell.