Sardine Pasta Puttanesca

• servings: 6 servings
• total time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

Salt

1 pound long pasta, like spaghetti, bucatini or linguine

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 (4- to 4.5-ounce) cans sardines packed in olive oil (see Tip), not drained

4 anchovy fillets

6 garlic cloves, smashed with the side of a chef’s knife then chopped

Red-pepper flakes, to taste

2 pints/about 4 cups cherry tomatoes

3/4 cup pitted black olives, very roughly chopped

1/4 cup drained capers

1 small handful parsley sprigs, finely chopped

Directions

Bring a high-sided skillet or medium pot of water to a boil and season with salt. Add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until floppy but still quite raw in the center (about 4 minutes shy of the cook time suggested on the package). Drain pasta, reserving 4 cups of the cooking liquid.

When the pasta is nearly cooked, heat a medium Dutch oven over medium-low. Add the olive oil, the oil from the sardines, the anchovies and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic is just beginning to turn golden and the anchovies have broken down, about 3 minutes. Add red-pepper flakes and cook, stirring frequently, until aromatic, about 30 seconds.

Add the tomatoes and 2 cups of the reserved pasta cooking liquid and increase heat to medium. Bring to a simmer and cook until the tomatoes are warmed through and slightly softened, 4 to 6 minutes. Use a wooden spoon or potato masher to roughly smash each one. Continue simmering until the tomato juices have slightly thickened into a sauce, about 5 minutes.

Add the drained pasta and cook, stirring vigorously, until the sauce coats the noodles and the pasta has cooked to your desired final texture, adding more pasta cooking liquid as needed, about 2 minutes. Add the sardines, olives, capers and parsley, stirring to evenly distribute and break up the sardines. Divide among plates and serve right away.