Pasta With Green Puttanesca
Updated March 12, 2025
Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
- Total Time
- 20 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
Salt
1 pound spaghettini or spaghetti
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
10 anchovy fillets
¼ cup drained capers
1 cup pitted and sliced green Cerignola or Picholine olives
10 fat green garlic cloves, peeled, sliced ¼-inch thick or use 8 regular garlic cloves
⅓ cup chopped scallions including greens
½ teaspoon red-pepper flakes
12 cups baby spinach leaves (11 ounces)
½ cup torn basil leaves
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 to 6 servings)
62 grams carbs; 6 milligrams cholesterol; 503 calories; 15 grams monosaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 23 grams fat; 4 grams fiber; 592 milligrams sodium; 14 grams protein; 2 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until it is not quite al dente, 5 to 8 minutes. Reserve a cup of cooking water, then drain the pasta.
- Step 2
While the pasta is cooking, warm ¼ cup oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the anchovies and capers. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the capers start to brown, about 3 minutes. Add the remaining ¼ cup oil, olives, garlic, scallions and red-pepper flakes; increase heat to high if using green garlic (leave it at medium-high for regular garlic) and cook until garlic is golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the spinach and cook until wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the pasta and toss for 1 minute. Add a splash of pasta cooking water if the pasta seems dry. Season with salt, if necessary. Toss in the basil leaves.
Private Notes
Comments
To even further simplify: if you're in a hurry, don't start with olive oil by itself. You can use anchovies that are already canned with capers and just dump the entire tin's content along with the anchovy-flavored olive oil from the tin. If you use two tins, that actually works out perfectly, and no additional salt is needed.
Simple to make and a pleasant deviation from the normal weeknight pasta hodgepodge dish. Based on the ingredients list, I thought it would be quite pungent and salty but, all that mellows in the cooking process into a smooth, unique taste. if i were anybody who liked these ingredients, i'd give this a try. just a note: I julienned prosciutto and subbed it for the anchovies...and, I'd do it, again.
I love this recipe because it is satisfying without the need for cheese. I've served this twice to toddlers and they love it. I chop everything finely and it practically dissolves into a sauce that they think is great, but don't know what it is, and can't pick "stuff" out.
I love this pasta dish and keep coming back to it. It's very adaptable to whatever you might have on hand. Tonight I used turnip tops from our CSA basket in place of the spinach and it turned out wonderfully.
Our son and I are huge NY Cooking fans. Especially Melissa's recipes. Made this exactly as written. Delicious. Wouldn't change anything. Sharon
I made this on a camping trip (olives and capers do fine without refrigeration for a few days) and replaced the anchovy with Parmesan for the veg. Roughly chopped garlic and olives did not stick to the pasta well enough. So either use a textured pasta or a chopper to get the ingredients almost to a paste.