One-pot Penne Puttanesca

Serves 2 (but easily scaled up)

I’ve become a big fan of one-pot pasta cooking. Essentially the pasta cooks in the sauce and the end result is a wonderfully flavoured pasta in about 20 minutes. And only one pan needs to be washed up… result!

This sort-of Puttanesca can easily be adapted to be gluten-free and suitable for vegetarian or vegan diets (by omitting the anchovies/cheese).

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

4 anchovy fillets (leave out if making this vegetarian or vegan)

3 cloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped

1/2 – 1 tsp dried chilli flakes

2 tbsp tomato purée

1 tin of cherry tomatoes

150g penne (gluten-free if required)

3 tbsp pitted olives

2 tbsp capers

Chopped parsley and grated Parmesan/Grana Padano to serve

Step 1: Heat the oil in a large pan (which also has a lid) over a medium heat. Add the anchovies and cook for one minute, moving around the pan so they break up. Add the garlic and lower the heat slightly. Continue to stir. After another minute add the chilli.

Step 2: Add the tomato purée and cook for a further 30 seconds and then the tinned tomatoes. Add the dried pasta and 300ml of recently boiled water. Stir, bring to a simmer, lower the heat and cover with a lid. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Step 3: After 10 minutes add the olives and capers. Stir well, and replace the lid. Continue to cook, stirring and checking the pasta every 3-4 minutes. When the pasta is cooked (for me it took 18 minutes with the gluten-free pasta I was using) sprinkle with chopped parsley and then serve. Top with the grated cheese if you like.