Pasta Puttanesca ~ The Silver Palate Cookbook

I recently bought an old, well worn paperback copy of the 1980's classic cookbook ~ The Silver Palate Cookbook ~ for $1 at a library donated book sale.  I've been reading it (yes, I read cookbooks like others read novels) and was smitten with their recipe for Pasta Puttanesca.  I can't believe that I've never made nor eaten this most classic of Italian pasta dishes before and I was determined to make it soon.  Tonight turned out to be the night...

Of course, I've seen the recipe many times before and have always snickered about why it's called by that name, (I can be such an overgrown kid sometimes) but I was never moved to make it. Tonight, I decided to create an adapted version, using what was available in my fridge.  I loosely followed their recipe ~ the changes I made were to use regular black olives instead of the Nicoise olives; chopped fresh cilantro for the Italian parsley; homemade slow-roasted dried tomatoes for the canned Italian plum tomatoes; leftover thin spaghetti for fresh cooked and a reduced amount of olive oil.   

I cooked it all in my brand new (to me), vintage 1960's Descoware enameled cast iron skillet and it worked out perfectly.  (Julia Child would have been so proud, she loved Descoware and Puttanesca Sauce was really popular in the 60's, I bet she made it even though it's not French)  I plated the richly fragrant pasta and thoroughly enjoyed my dinner.  I will definitely be making Puttanesca Sauce again, maybe next time with a low carb spin using zucchini ribbons in place of the pasta.  This recipe and the cookbook ~ they are both keepers!  

Real-time cooking in my kitchen tonight...and now it's time to do the dishes.  :)