Several years ago, I started marking the pages of my cookbooks so that I could easily find recipes that I wanted to try. This one, from Jamie’s Dinners, wasn’t marked, and I suspect it was because of the high proportion of seriously funky ingredients.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the funk. I love olives, capers, and tuna. I can be persuaded with anchovies. I love tomatoes and lemon zest and pasta. But Shane put it best when he came up from the basement into the kitchen – “Wow, there’s some serious smells in here”.

The brilliant thing about this, though, is its simplicity.  The sauce starts by adding anchovies to hot oil right after you’ve started the pasta water. When the anchovies melt away, toss in the olives, capers, garlic, and chilies and saute a bit.  By this time, the water should be boiling, so in goes the pasta (we used Barilla plus spaghetti).  Up next, the tuna and tomatoes are added – I also added a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste to extend and thicken the sauce a bit.  By the time your pasta is al dente, you should also have a skillet full of savory, spicy, funky sauce.  Drain the pasta, toss it with the sauce, and serve with a green salad and a bit of vinaigrette.  So good, even if you don’t normally get down with the funk.

Recipe:
Working Girl’s Pasta from Jamie’s Dinners