Puttanesca Sauce, testing the recipe

Last night Marty and I tested another recipe for Cook’s Illustrated, Pasta Puttanesca. The recipe at the Puttanesca link is not what we used.  The link has the best history on this dish.

The goal was for plenty of  the bold flavors the classic sauce delivers, but to retain the brightness and sweetness of late summer tomatoes.  Uh, it is November, not late summer.

Marty and I both worked on this recipe.  Both of us were chopping, mincing, prepping at the same time. 

Here I am pitching a fit.  Marty had just walked in from the grocery with “fresh” cherry tomatoes.  Under the top layer there was mold, tomatoes so soft that when I touched them they fell apart.  No way you could see the bad ones until you removed the top layer.  Luckily he bought more than was needed, so we had enough.  Yes, we are getting our money back.

Some of the ingredients we used.

Mincing the garlic.  Oh, and a little refreshment for us on the left.

                                                                      

Olive oil, red pepper flakes, garlic, and other spices.

I am giving the Kalamata olives a rough chop.

I made croutons for our Caesar Salad.

                                           

I am grating Parmesan Cheese into the Caesar Salad.

Ready to sit down and see if the recipe reached its goal.

                                                 

What do you think?  Did we like it?

Yes, we did.  It was rich, complex with the olive and capers, filling but light at the same time.  The four of us then discussed what if anything should be changed in the recipe.  We agreed, nothing.  But we also agreed it would be killer with shrimp.  Next time.