Pasta Puttanesca

Tonight's dinner was pasta puttanesca. This is a really easy dinner. My kids love olives and capers, so they always gobble this one up. (J is reading over my shoulder and says that he doesn't like the green olives now. Fussy!)

This is a really quick and easy dinner. Tonight I served it with homemade garlic and herb bread. For the garlic bread, I didn't measure anything, so I won't post a specific recipe. Basically, I mixed oregano, thyme, parsley, a pinch of salt and garlic into Nuttelex margarine. I spread the margarine mix over halved bread rolls and put them under the grill until they started to lightly toast. Making garlic bread this way means that you can use around 1 teaspoon or less of margarine per 1/2 roll and not have too much fat.

Pasta Puttanesca

Serves 6

500g short pasta of choice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium diced onions
2 cloves of garlic
150g jar of capers, drained
300g olives, drained (this time I used stuffed green olives, but pitted kalamatas are best)
800g tin diced tinned tomatoes (don't strain)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 Massel chicken style vegan stock cube (optional)
ground black pepper to taste

1. Set pasta to cook pasta as per package instructions
2. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add onion and garlic. Heat until translucent.
3. Add remaining ingredients to skillet and heat for 5-10 minutes while the pasta finishes cooking.
4. drain the pasta.
5. In a large bowl or saucepan, mix the sauce through the pasta.
6. Serve.

This is a fairly traditional pasta dish (though the original recipe includes anchovies). It is usually well received by omnis. I have taken this to potluck parties with omnis, and it has been fairly popular.