Spaghetti Puttanesca

After having a busy day, we really did not feel like going to the store to buy ingredients for a recipe for dinner. So we decided to go with an old stand-by recipe which uses ingredients that we like to keep stocked in our pantry.

Here's the recipe:

1 lb of pasta
2 - 3 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup of capers
1/2 cup of black olives, pitted and halves
2 - 3 teaspoons of dried oregano
1 - 28 ounce can of plum tomatoes, chopped and not drained
2 tablespoons olive oil
a dash of hot pepper flakes, salt and ground black pepper

Cook pasta until al dente. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a sauté pan. Add garlic, capers, olives, oregano and a dash of red pepper flakes and good on low heat for a few minutes. Add tomatoes with juice, bring to a simmer and cook for 4 - 10 minutes until it has a thick consistency. Remove from heat and add the cooked pasta.

This time we decided to get a little crazy and add sautéed shrimp. Honestly, it was not really a good idea. I like this sauce and I like shrimp but together they really didn't do anything for each other. Pretty fabulous overall but the sauce could have been a little thicker. But it's ok, we were hungry so it wasn't worth the wait this time and it was still tasty. I'm going to get a little nerdy for a second. Rotelle was not the best choice for this recipe. Rotelle is a decent shape but I've realized that it is best for sauces with a thick and sticky consistency like a pesto. Although the sauce is supposed to be thick, it really doesn't take advantage of the pasta shape. I'd go with shells next time. We made a whole recipe and had 2 hearty portions leftover for lunch tomorrow.

Although, not as good as previous times, the recipe overall gets a 9/10.

Oh, if anyone is grossed out by the food photos, please let me know. The last thing I want to do is have a website that resembles a menu from IHOP or Waffle House with pictures of greasy and unappetizing sausage and eggs.