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Salsa De Puttana

A tomato-based sauce with anchovies, olives, capers, basil, and red pepper, served over spaghetti.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Salsa De Puttana

Time20 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. In a large skillet, sauté garlic, celery and green pepper in oil until the vegetables are tender, but not browned.

  2. Add tomatoes, anchovies, capers, and basil.

  3. Season with crushed red pepper to taste.

  4. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

  5. If anchovies are omitted, add ½ tablespoon salt.

Serve

  1. Cook spaghetti according to package directions.

  2. Toss sauce with spaghetti.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

197Calories
3 gProtein
15 gFat
15 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Olive1 large (4g)4
Capers1 tbsp (9g) drained2
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Soupnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Tomato + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Olive + caperstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,688 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Anchovies
Add a deep, savory saltiness that melts into the sauce and rounds out the tomatoes.
Tomatoes
Provide the main liquid and acidity, which reduce during simmering into a thick sauce.
Olive oil
Carries the aromatics and adds fat that helps spread flavor through the sauce.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows as it cooks gently in the oil.
Spaghetti
Provides the starchy base that the sauce clings to when tossed together.

The step that matters

Sauté the vegetables until tender but not browned. Browning the garlic and vegetables turns them bitter and harsh, while gentle cooking softens them and builds a sweeter, more mellow base for the sauce.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, celery, pepper, olive, tomato, capers, basil):

  1. Oreganofits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, celery, pepper, olive, tomato, capers, basil. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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