I was just about to turn in for the night (half past 10 is a half hour past my bedtime) when I remembered that I didn’t blog for today!
My mom is in town for work, so Andrew and I drove out to to O’hare after work to pick her up and take her to dinner. We weren’t familiar with any spots in the Schiller Park area (where she’s staying), so we took our chances with Yelp and narrowed it down to two places in/around Edison Park. My mom said that Italian sounded good, so we went Italian.
Much to our surprise, the place we ended up dining was really, really good. The atmosphere was nice, the food very tasty, and the price right. The portions were a little outrageous. My plate came with the amount of pasta I’d make for Andrew and I for dinner, with the intention of leftovers for both of us to take for lunch. Needless to say, we have enough food around for at least another day.
Now, I have Italian food on the brain, so here’s a recipe for a tomato sauce that is simple simple simple to make. It is, obviously, a delicious sauce and, according to Joy of Cooking, “exciting” and “ideal for busy cooks.” Traditional Puttanesca normally has anchovies, but I don’t keep them in my pantry, so I omit them when I don’t have any and add a few more olives and capers to substitute for their salty flavor.
Puttanesca Sauce
Makes 3 cups
Ingredients:
1/4 c olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 large pinch red chile pepper
1 1/4 c olives (I used kalamata), pitted and chopped
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 pounds whole peeled ripe tomatoes, or one 28 oz can whole tomatoes with their juice
3 Tbsp minced parsley
3 T drained capers
salt and pepper
Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Add the garlic and chile pepper, stirring just until the garlic starts to turn golden. Add the olives and oregano and stir for about 30 seconds. Next, add the tomatoes and simmer, uncovered, for about 5 minutes while crushing them with the back of a spoon to thicken the sauce.
Stir in the parsley and capers and season with salt pepper to taste.
Serve with your favorite pasta.
I’m so impressed you are blogging daily and I’m enjoying finding unread material from you when I open my Google Reader each morning. Good luck!
Thanks, Gemma. I’m kind of over it already, but it’s a good practice I think. Thanks for the encouragement!