February 5: Something Saucy

Friday night dinners at our house are always interesting. After a long week of work and school, we usually do something quick and easy. If we're cooking, things like leftovers (if we have any), sandwiches, frozen finger food (i.e. chicken tenders) or frozen pizza top the list. If we're bringing in, we occasionally do the McDonalds things for the kids or pick up a pizza from a local pizzeria. And, sometimes we just go out to eat. Surprisingly, this Friday evening was a little bit different. Thanks to my wife, we had a Friday meal with some substance: pasta noodles and sauce. Before leaving for work that morning, my wife smartly removed some leftover homemade spaghetti sauce that we had frozen a short while back. And, shortly before the troops arrived home late that afternoon, I begin warming the sauce and boiling our healthy whole grain noodles, courtesy of Barilla. Being that we had already used the spaghetti noodles, I solicited my son's opinion on his choice of either rotini or penne, with which we had just recently stocked our cupboard (love that Costco!). He promptly selected penne and we were on our way. Of course, the remaining spaghetti sauce was not nearly enough to feed a hungry family of four, so my wife heated up the Trader Joe's Puttanesca sauce that had been sitting in our pantry the last few weeks. Now, my wife loves Puttanesca...the traditional dish with spaghetti noodles. Me, I've never actually tried it. But, apparently the sauce is a sort of traditional tomato sauce with olives, capers, peppers, garlic and either anchovies or tuna mixed in. When researching the basic recipe, I also came to find that, interestingly enough, the dish is referred to as "whore's pasta", thanks to this little entry on the MediterrAsian.com website. Not sure who is making that reference, but it seems to be a lot of people out there, as the same fact popped up on more than one website. If I wasn't curious about Puttnesca before, this little tidbit certainly did the job. And, I was pleased with the taste of it over my penne on this evening. It has a slight hot/tangy aftertaste to it, which I enjoyed, and the blend of spices with the tomato base was enticing. I would certainly recommend the sauce for your next pasta meal, as well the traditional Puttanesca dish next time you dine out Italian. If you can't wait that long, as I just know this blog entry has left your taste buds longing for Puttanesca sauce, try making your own. This recipe looks inviting.