Friday, March 29, 2013

If you knew what 'puttana' are...

...you might be shocked to learn I've been cooking like them tonight.

Today, after hearing confessions for about two hours, as well as leading the Liturgy of Good Friday and the Stations, the resident seminarian and I were discussing our one meal for the day. What would it be?

We did an inventory of the pantry. Pasta, but no sauce. We had olive oil and garlic, and cheese...that didn't seem quite enough.

So to the Internet we go! I remembered a sauce my cousin made for me many years ago. With Google's help, I found it: Pasta alla Puttanesca. The seminarian liked the idea--so he was off a-Krogering for the necessary ingredients, while I engaged in needed...contemplation. (Actually, I finished reading the last volume of Lord of the Rings.)

Back from the store, and with Christian's able help, we began chopping: tomatoes, garlic, anchovies, olives (hard to pit). Pasta on to boil; saute the garlic in the oil, then add tomatoes...then everything else. We nearly forgot the anchovies, which would have saddened the seminarian, but happily, I noticed the poor fishies languishing on the counter.


Lest you think Domus Sanctae Rosae is soft on seminarians, I put Christian to work:



As you can see, Heaven favors my enterprise.


Update: here is the Pasta alla Puttanesca on the table:


And here it isn't.


It was pretty good! It didn't take that long to fix it; the next time I make it, I think I'll add more anchovies and maybe a slight bit more red pepper. Maybe some black pepper too. Christian took a couple more snaps of the food, so when he emails them to me from his phone, I'll post them.

After dinner, we headed down to Old Saint Mary Parish, where the Oratorians were leading Tenebrae according to the older form of the missal. It was a good two hours of moving chant; just got back and posted this. I don't mind saying I'm tired.

2 comments:

avepia said...

An "MMmmmmmm" from Italy.

Rich Leonardi said...

Wonderful post; I've been on the road for about ten days and missed it. And as a second-generation Italian-American, I know exactly what "puttana" are. ;-)