Smokey

Passport & Plate - Smokey! My re-invention of pasta puttanesca

United Kingdom | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 5 photos

For the pasta (tagliatelli)
700g Spelt flour
One tablespoon of smoked paprika
250ml water (may need more)
Two tablespoons of olive oil
A handful of finely chopped basil
A pinch of sea salt
For the sauce
Two 500g cartons of Passata
One pint of Lapsang Souchong tea
Several bay leaves
50g approximately of smoked anchovies
330g approximately of pitted black olives or remove from the stones yourself
Two large table spoons of capers (small or large, whichever you prefer)
One heaped teaspoon of smoked paprika
¼ teaspoon of ground chilli
One large whole garlic clove
One large bunch of basil
Olive oil
Black pepper
Decoration:Old newspapers or magazines to cut lettering
Extra smoked paprika to dust the lettering stencil

How to prepare this recipe
Method:
For the pasta
Put the spelt flour, smoked paprika and finely chopped basil in a large mixing bowl, making a well in the centre.
Add wet ingredients to the well and very slowly mix together with a fork, incorporating only a little flour at a time so it mixes smoothly and evenly. Continue kneading by hand for about 10 minutes, let the dough rest for a half hour in a bowl covered with a t-towel. Repeat a couple times until dough is smooth and silky, and just slightly sticky. Shape by hand using a rolling pin to roll as finely as possible and cut into long strips to create tagliatelle or with a machine set to the tagliatelli setting. Leave the strips to dry over night on sheets of non-stick baking parchment evenly spaced out.

For the sauce:
In a large saucepan, place the passata, lapsang tea, bay leaves, anchovies (roughly chopped), black olives (again roughly chopped), smoked paprika, chilli and whole garlic clove. Bring just about to the boil and then leave to simmer with a lid on for approximately 45 minutes. Stir now and again. Take off the heat once the sauce is fully thickened, find the garlic clove (from within the sauce) and smash against the side of the saucepan with the back of a spoon. Stir the crushed garlic clove through with lashings of olive oil and roughly chopped fresh basil plus black pepper to taste. Reserve some whole basil leaves for decoration

;Bring a large pan of water to boil, add the pasta and cook for about 3 minutes (max 5 depending on how dry the pasta is). Once cooked, drain and divide between four plates and add the sauce to the top. Add a few whole basil leaves to decorate the top of the red sauce.

To decorate:
For an extra special decoration, cut different sized lettering from old newspapers and magazines using a scalpel. This will create your own stencil. My stencil is the recipe name ‘Smokey’ but you can also stencil each plate with your guest’s name! I suggest stencilling before adding the dish to the plate.

The story behind this recipe
One of the first dishes I truly loved as a child was my mother’s Italian spaghetti alla puttanesca which she was taught years before I was born whilst in the depths of southern Italy teaching. This probably started my passion for Italy and Italian culture creating a strong desire to explore and travel one of the most stunning countries. Whilst at school I also developed a strong interest in healthy eating spending my Saturday’s and school holiday’s working at the most beautiful vegetarian wholefood shop and restaurant in Wells, Somerset. Here, I learnt about all sorts of exotic and unusual ingredients that were just not sold in super markets. Spelt flour became my love (this could only be found in healthfood shops at the time) and as the stable food of the Romans, I feel it is most appropriate that the pasta in this recipe is made with spelt! More recently I’ve spent time in Barcelona developing a taste for tapas and Spanish food! Therefore, this recipe has become a fusion of Italy and spain with a healthy and easy way of creating an alternative spaghetti alla puttanesca! Frying is not necessary and cooking the garlic clove whole within the sauce ensures a fantastic infusion, saves your hands from an infusion! And continues to infuse the sauce once smashed through (towards the end of cooking). Since spending time in Spain, I’ve been spending much time shopping in Brindisa in Borough market (close to where I live). It’s in the Brindisa shop I’ve picked up smoked anchovies and sweet smoked paprika. Ingredients that are to die for! The combination of these mixed with the lapsang Souchong tea transfers the palette to a heavenly place and is a great way to use up spare cold tea from the pot! My grandmother always use to make lapsang tea even serving a daily bowl to Jimmy her gorgeous Labrador so I’ve always had a soft spot for this particular tea.