Oven Puttanesca

Last year I invited some people over for dinner and as I was planning the menu, I asked if they had any dietary restrictions.  When they told me that they had been trying to avoid gluten and lactose, I suggested scallops or chicken.  That’s when I found out that one of them doesn’t like scallops, the other doesn’t like chicken, and they’re all trying to avoid red meat altogether.  Since fish isn’t my strong suit, I started searching various sites for recipes that were gluten free, lactose free and vegetarian, trying to find anything that actually sounded appetizing.  That was when I came across one of the easiest, tastiest dishes: Whole Living’s Oven Puttanesca.

INGREDIENTS

• 6 tomatoes (about 1 3/4 pounds), cut into 1-inch wedges (the number of tomatoes obviously depends on their size, so I weighed them at the grocery store)
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (about 1 tablespoon)
• 3 tablespoons capers, rinsed
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper (I didn’t have Kosher salt so I used sea salt)
• 1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives, halved
• 12 ounces neutral-flavored penne, such as Bionaturae gluten-free (rice, soy, potato)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
2. Toss the tomatoes, garlic, capers, oil, salt, and pepper on a rimmed baking sheet.  Roast for 35 minutes, then reduce oven to 375 degrees. Add olives, stirring once, and roast 15 minutes more.  (If you want you can cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean up after)
3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add pasta and cook until al dente.  Drain.
4. Toss with tomato sauce, and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve drizzled with olive oil.

Serves 6

NOTES

This dish is really so easy to make and quite delicious.  If you have no gluten dietary restrictions you can also use any pasta you prefer.  I have made it on various occasions and it’s always a success!

The original dinner menu for that evening consisted of:

• Tuna Tartare chips appetizer (recipe to come)
• Simple burrata salad (burrata, tomatoes, spinach leaves) with olive oil and balsamic vinegar glaze on the side
  • Now I know they said they were trying to avoid lactose, but I love burrata.  In the end it was happily consumed by all!
• Oven Puttanesca
• Refreshing Ciao Bella sorbet (passion fruit, blood orange and mango)

For Miami locals, I found all of the ingredients at Milam’s in Coconut Grove, including the Bionaturae pasta.

Burrata Salad

Enjoy!

Adri