When I made Sara Hatch's Chicken Puttanesca from her blog Edible I decided to make my own Puttanesca sauce. The one I found was from Food & Wine and can be found here. The only ingredient that needed to be omitted was sugar and well, that's no problem for me.
I gathered all of my ingredients and got started. Sorry, I didn't take a picture of just the sauce ingredients when I made the Chicken Puttanesca, so this picture is the closest thing to it.
I measured out 1/4 a cup of Kalamata olives and chopped them up.
Next, I needed to fish out 6 anchovy fillets but I couldn't get them out of the jar I had whole. I guesstimated what 6 whole fillets would look like.
I heated the oil in a 2.5 quart sauce pan. Once it was hot, I added the garlic gloves, anchovies and crushed red chili peppers to the pan.
Next, I measured out a tablespoon of tomato paste. I finally bought a tube of tomato paste. Its expensive, but over the long run, I'll save money from not opening a new can of tomato paste every time I just need a tablespoon.
By the time I added the tomato paste, my pan was quite hot. If yours gets hot, watch out as the oil will splatter. I stirred the pan for about a minute to make sure everything was combined well.
It still amazes me how quickly anchovies disintegrate when cooking with them. Next, I added the tomatoes. I knew I needed to hand crush the whole tomatoes, but hadn't really thought my process through. I opened the can and thought I'd just crush them over the pan straight from the can. Bad idea. These whole tomatoes are juicy and each time I crushed one of them, seeds and juice went everywhere, no matter how careful I was being. I'm glad I had my apron on. Next time, I will crush the tomatoes by hand in a bowl in the sink.
After adding the tomatoes, I added the chopped olives, capers and basil. And gave the sauce a good stir. I added about a teaspoon of salt and pepper. I let the sauce come to the boil and then turned down the heat so it would simmer. I set a timer for 30 minutes.
This is one of my favorite pictures lately. I love the color and texture. |
After 30 minutes, here was the sauce.
Accessibility & Cost of Ingredients: You should be able to find all of the ingredients for the sauce at your "big box" grocery store. The sauce calls for a 35 once can of whole peeled Italian tomatoes. The largest can I found was 28 ounces. For the sake of reviewing the recipe, I bought fancy Italian tomatoes that were $3.98/can. Next time, I'm fairly certain and whole peeled canned tomato will do.
Preparation & Cooking Time: The sauce took a total of 48 minutes to make. I think I can get the preparation time on this down a bit the next time I make it.
The Paleo Review: Double Thumbs Up! At first, by itself the sauce seemed a little salty to me, but when added to the chicken and spaghetti squash, I thought it was just right. Because you hand crush the tomatoes, its a chunky sauce. If you like yours smooth, get your blender/food processor out and make it so. The sauce really improves with a night or two in the refrigerator. It has a deep flavor that I've not had in a jarred sauce.
If you've not made your own sauce, give this one a try. Seriously, you wont regret it.