Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Kitchen Diary 2012 - Cod Puttanesca





Cod Puttanesca

Before any recipe for puttanesca, there is a coy note about the origin of the sauce and its name. It merely means “in the style of your mom.”

Make puttanesca sauce:
½ can tomatoes (whole)
Pepper flakes (Aleppo, red)
A couple of canned anchovies (or a dollop of anchovy paste)
Several Kalamata olives, seeded and chopped
A couple of garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
A half-dozen capers, rinsed, and chopped if you have the patience

- Put a colander over a bowl and plop in the canned tomatoes. Trim off the stem end and get rid of any tomato skin that may still be hangin’ around. Squish the tomatoes in your hands to break ‘em down a bit. Put half in the fridge for later.
- Put olive oil in a pan, toss in the pepper flakes and heat. When the oil is hot, it will start to bring out the heat of the chilies.
- Add the anchovies (or paste – much easier) and sauté until they melt down.
- Crush the garlic and toss it in. We give it a quick stir (so it won’t burn – like 2 seconds) and add the tomatoes, capers, and olives.
- The whole thing can be anointed with some Italian herbs, if one is so possessed.
- Simmer until the sauce reduces a bit.

Add the Cod:
- We had a fillet of ling cod that we sliced into 3 pieces. The idea was to get all the pieces to cook at the same speed.
- Nestle the cod in the sauce. Cover, and cook for a few minutes (aim for the 5-10 minute range).
- Serve over whatever. We made brown rice with spinach.

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