Pasta Puttanesca

The first vegan Puttanesca recipe I ever learned had no tomatoes in it at all. Just shallots, garlic, a fearsomely hot chilli and lots of capers and olives. I still think that this is the best but today I wanted the subtlety of barely cooked fresh tomatoes to add sweetness and moisture to the dish.

What I did isn't quite what I would have done had all the ingredients been to hand but I shall record the recipe the way it should be and if you can spot the substitutions in the picture you may have a gold star.

Put the pasta water on to boil. Add some salt.

Slice a couple of shallots very finely (or a small onion, there's not a lot of difference when the snobbery's removed after all), several cloves of garlic, one largish (not too hot for me) green chilli. Turn 3 small tomatoes (about 150g) into small dice and slice up some black olives into slivers. Have a good tablespoon full of capers handy.

When the water is boiling, throw in your pasta, spaghetti for preference but any shape will do.

Now, in a wide shallow frying pan, quickly fry off your shallots in a dollop of olive oil, add the chilli and then the garlic. As soon as the garlic starts to colour, add the tomatoes and a pinch of dried oregano. Add some ground black pepper if you like. Turn the heat down and stir the tomatoes and other stuff around a bit, then add the olives and capers. The whole thing shouldn't take more that 8 or 9 minutes.

By now the pasta should be nearly cooked. As soon as it reaches the point of tenderness you enjoy, drain it and add it to the sauce in the frying pan. Mix together and serve with a sprinkle of finely chopped parsley.

The peanuts? I just chucked them over the top. It's the end of the week and I'm all out of protein boosters. Next time though, I might crush them up first, make them more the consistency of parmesan.