Easy being green: puttanesca verde

You've heard the stories about puttanesca pasta before, yes? "Stories," because this is one where the stories change. I was told, originally, that the dish was invented by Roman prostitutes, because their johns, being Italian mamma's boys, needed food after the visit, and since the ladies had to turn over, well, tricks, they needed to make something fast. A second story I heard, was that the dish was designed to get the men out fast, because the spiciness, together with the taste of the anchovies on the lips of the ladies, well, was not appealing.
Recently, I heard a third version, which I like the best. THis one says that there was a law which only permitted prostitutes to grocery shop on one day of the week, so everything they bought had to be something that could be stored and not perishable.

There's something kind of amusing and also sad, about limiting when people can shop. I can see it now: all teachers have to shop on Monday. All doctors, Tuesday, and so on and so forth.

I would die.

Anyway, if you've had puttanesca of some kind, you remember hot peppers, tuna, capers, and other things along those lines. Tomato, but from paste, etcetera.

Melissa Clark, who writes for the New York Times, and who is one of Annalena's favorites, "gets" that we don't have a lot of time to cook most nights. Her columns are dedicated to doing a nice, even elegant one pot kind of meal, that won't kill you in terms of time.

Annalena approves. She published a recipe for a variation on puttanesca, where everything was green. It caught Annalena's eye, because the standard garlic, had been replaced by green garlic, which is one of the Guyman's favorite things on the face of the earth, and which Annalena enjoys too. It also used greens, and Annalena is a big fan of greens in pasta.

Since we also find ourselves in a situation once a week where we are eating late, and need something quick (after Annalena has fractured her guitar teacher's ears for an hour), this is when we have our "carb dinner." So, this turned out to be perfect.

Those of you of a creative bent will see the room for changes, as indeed there are. I of course changed it right away, for a very simple reason: I didn't have one of the ingredients, but I had its big brother.

This takes a bit longer than the 20 minutes Ms. Clark says it does, but plan to have the food on the table in half an hour. It is an intensive 20-30 minutes of cooking, so if you want a salad (you DO want a salad), make that first.

I will also confess that this is a dish which made me like anchovies. I will be giving you another anchovy containing recipe shortly. Let's start with this one.
You need 1/4 cup of capers. Ms. Clark uses the ones in brine, and drains them. That's fine, but I like the salted ones better, so I set them up in water and let them soak, with water changes, for fifteen minutes. You also need 10 anchovy fillets. It sounds like a lot, but it's not. Trust me.

The hardest thing you'll do for the dish is cut meat off of green olives. Use what you like. I did use cerignolas, because I like them the best, but again, use what you like. Annalena abjures pitted olives, but they would make this easier. In any event, you will want a total of 1 cup of olive "meat."

Next, green garlic. 10-12 cloves of it. This is about 3 bulbs of the stuff. Get it while you can, and slice the stuff like slivered almonds.

Scallions please. You won't need many, but use more if you like. 1/3 of a cup, stressing the green end. If you have and like chives (I don't), use those. Or spring onions.

Now, spinach. Ms. Clark used baby spinach, and if you have that and want it, fine. I find that the full sized spinach has more flavor, and I always have some in the house. 3/4 of a pound. If you don't have spinach, use beet greens, or chard, or anything you like. Just make sure it's washed and if you use full sized greens, torn into small bits.

Some basil, if you please. As much as you like. Our rooftop garden had just become accessible so I used our basil. Use whatever variety you like too.

Let us not forget the spaghetti, and use spaghetti, please. This is a sort of Roman dish, and puttanesca was always made with spaghetti.

It took MUCH longer to describe the ingredients than it's going to need to make the dish. Put 2 ounces of olive oil in a big heavy pan and heat it up. When it's warm, add the anchovies and the capers. You'll see something neat happen. The anchovies will, literally dissolve. IT's really cool. Do this for about three minutes, then add 2 more ounces of olive oil, the olives, the garlic and the scallions and cook this for about five minutes. Now, add the greens. THey will collapse and cook in no more than 3 minutes. If you like, at this point add some hot pepper.

Your sauce is done. If you happen to have enough burner space, you can be bringing the water to a boil and adding salt, cooking the pasta. Fresh is faster, but dried is fine. While it's cooking, look at the sauce and if it seems too "tight," add a bit of pasta water and let it cook into the sauce. Then toss everything together.

Ms. Clark says this will serve 4-6. Ok.... I'd say more like 3.

Anyway, while green garlic is with us, use it. Won't be too much longer.