Pasta Puttanesca

Here's my favourite all-time pasta dish: Pasta Puttanesca which combines some of the most vibrant flavours of the Mediterranean - tomatoes, anchovies, olives and capers.



Ingredients

2 or 3 onions - finely chopped
100 grams of good quality anchovies 
150 grams of good quality black olives - roughly chopped
100 grams of capers - roughly chopped
8 to 10 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
1 heaped teaspoon of paprika
6 ripe tomatoes 
Zest of 1 lemon - plus the juice of half the lemon
Fresh or dried chillies to taste - this is a strong, fiery dish
A good dash of Worcestershire sauce
Handful of chopped parsley
Salt and pepper
2/3 tablespoons of olive oil
A large handful of roughly chopped basil - add just before serving
Some freshly grated Parmesan cheese 

Method

Bring a big pot of water to the boil to cook your pasta - enough for four hungry people. 

Sauté the onions in olive until soft add the anchovies and continue to cook the mixture gently until the anchovies dissolve.

Add you pasta to the boiling, salted water - cook until al dente (10/12) minutes

Add the garlic and paprika and continue cooking for a minute or two before adding the tomatoes. 

Add all the other ingredients one-by-one and stir into the mixture.

Add a ladleful of the pasta water to your Puttanesca sauce and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes 

Check the seasoning - drain the pasta, add this to your sauce, scatter the basil leaves and grated Parmesan cheese on top of the dish before serving.