The Slattern’s pasta sauce – as they make it in North London. 

I’m something of a small dust-town deity in the kitchen. Nothing that will save your life, but you will probably think of my improvised dishes once in a while, as you continue on your highway-drive through life.

This week I bring to you my slattern’s pasta – a puttanesca for the end of the week, when your cupboard is bare yet the belly needs feeding.

Feeds 2-3

 Half a large red onion, roughly chopped

Half a red chilli, roughly chopped

Couple of anchovies (you guessed it) roughly chopped.

Three garlic cloves, peeled but left whole.

Left over red wine

A can of chopped tomatoes (not plum) as swanky as you can afford,

Or the best part of a carton of passata (I used cheep-y stuff, and it was fine),

OR some nice fresh tomatoes, if you have extra time and only if they are ripe.

A delicate sprinkling of cinnamon

Many generous slugs of Olive oil.

Ditto salt

As much pasta as you’re feeling.

(If you have it) a teaspoon or so of almond flour.

You might want to consider nutmug or black olives instead. See discussion at the bottom.

Step one:

Sauté the onions and the garlic. For me this means: heat the olive oil until smoking, put the onions and garlic in the pan, sprinkle liberally with salt, reduce heat to low and cover with a lid. The onions need to go for a good ten-fifteen minutes, unless you like them with a bit of bite.

Step one point five. Around halfway through add the chilli, stir and cover. I like to add a bit of olive oil at the end and fire them up on hot, stirring continuously, but do not let them burn!

Step two:

Add the anchovies and your choice of tomatoes to the pan. Sprinkle on the cinnamon and the almond flour. Slug on some more oil and a generous lug of the red wine, bring to the boil and then lower and allow to simmer on a low heat. As a rule, pasta sauce is done when i) you cannot distinguish ingredients any more, ii) the oil has separated from the tomatoes, iii) the pasta is done and you need to eat.

I did all of the above in under ten minutes, but she would probably be a better sauce for some extra cooking time. If the sauce is to simmer for a while – say thirty minutes- I’d put a lid on her. MAKE SURE you have flash-fried the ingredients, as per step one, before things simmer for ages, else you will end up with stew.

Re: the almond flour- this sauce doesn’t really need cheese, as it is sharp and salty. I add the cinnamon to have a bit of mellow sweet underneath, and the almond flour does a stirling job of adding a sweet depth to it. You could maybe grate on some nutmug instead. Also using canned black olives, as per the usual recipe, probably goes some way to achieving this