I’m writing this post on Christmas Eve. I’m thinking about all the food I need to prepare for tomorrow. It’s going to be incredible. We’ve got some cranberry salmon as the main entree, some tsimmes, roasted balsamic sweet potatoes and cauliflower stuffing as the sides. For good measure, I’m even throwing in an awesome cranberry and apple chutney. For dessert, we’ll be preparing white chocolate mousse with blackberries, strawberries and blueberries and as a second dessert, I’ll be making the famous fruit dish with basil that I made last year for Thanksgiving. I can’t wait to see how everything turns out. Having recipes I know I like to draw from is one of the greatest enjoyments I get from this blog. I absolutely love browsing through it as the holidays approach.
Okay, I know that first paragraph had nothing to do with the pasta dish I’m about to share below, but I’m excited, as if you couldn’t tell.
The Recipe
Today’s dish is excellent. I prepared it last night for dinner and I was very pleased with it. It’s extraordinarily simple to put together and the taste is out of the world. I’m not sure I ever doubted that because the ingredients include capers, black olives, shallots, diced tomatoes, a red bell pepper and some optional anchovies. Each and every one of these ingredients offers its own unique flavor and combined, they blew me away. They created a sauce that I mixed in with the fettuccine and again, I just have to say I loved it. Lots of salt and lots of flavor.
Ingredients
Serves: 4
4 Tablespoons Capers, Minced
1/2 Cup Black Olives, Diced
12 Anchovy Fillets, Chopped
6 Tablespoons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
2 Teaspoons Garlic, Minced
2 Shallots, Chopped
1 Large Can Diced Tomatoes, Drained
1 Large Red Bell Pepper, Seeded and Chopped
Salt
Ground Black Pepper
Parmesan Cheese, Shaved
Step-by-Step Instructions
I’d like to thank Carlo Bernasconi and Christian Teubner for the wonderful resource called The Complete Italian Cookbook. This recipe is another winner.
Prepare the Sauce
Warm a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add four tablespoons of the olive oil to the pan and then add in the shallots and the garlic. Stir and simmer these ingredients for about three minutes. Then, add in the capers, olives and the anchovies. Continue stirring for another three minutes. Finally, add in the tomatoes and red bell pepper. Reduce the heat to medium and continue stirring intermittently for 15 minutes. When finished, turn off the heat.
Cook the Pasta
Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add one tablespoon of salt to the water. Add the pasta, stir and let it cook for 11 minutes. When it’s al dente, strain the pasta through a colander.
When finished with that, transfer the pasta to a large bowl. Add in the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil as well as the sauce from the skillet. Mix everything together and then season to taste with salt and pepper.
Plate & Serve
Divide the pasta and sauce between bowls or plates. Add some shaved Parmesan cheese to each dish and serve. Enjoy!
The Final Fettuccine & Caper Sauce
As you can imagine, this sauce has got tons of flavor. It’s got a bit of uniqueness too because of the interesting ingredients. If you decide to try this recipe out, please let me know your thoughts in the comment section down below. Thanks for reading!
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