Pasta Puttanesca

On Monday we returned home, fat and happy. So a quick dish after a long drive: Pasta Puttanesca. Ran across it first in a restaurant review in Gourmet years ago and thought, "That can't possibly mean what I think it means." But yes, it is indeed "Whore's Sauce," or pasta alla prostitute. Etymology mercifully unknown, though I've always favored the idea that it got its name from the fact that everything goes into it. The constants are tuna, anchovies, and olives. Since this is a dish many of whose ingredients are or can be canned, it's perfect for winter.

So sauté garlic in olive oil plus some oil from a jar/can of anchovies. Add crushed tomatoes, lots of chopped black olives (though we had it once in a joint in the Campo dei Fiori topped with a single green olive), handful of capers, healthy shots of oregano, basil, and pepper. When thickened add a can of tuna (preferably in oil, but frankly the cheap stuff that's barely a step up from cat food will do just fine with so many other things to cover it up). Serve over spaghetti or what you will. Bizarrely, despite anchovies, capers, and tuna, the sauce often needs extra salt. Pasta Puttanesca is one of the great exceptions to the "no cheese with fish" rule, since otherwise it wouldn't be slutty enough, would it?