One-Pan Orecchiette Puttanesca

This is a sweetened version of puttanesca minus the anchovies, plus chickpeas and spices. It’s quick and super-practical to make because the pasta actually cooks in the sauce. Try it, and you may not feel the need to boil pasta ever again.

Ingredients

5tbsp/75ml olive oil
6 garlic cloves, crushed
1 × 15-oz/425g can chickpeas, drained well and patted dry
2 tsp hot smoked paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp tomato paste
table salt
2 cups/40g parsley, roughly chopped
2 tsp lemon zest
3 tbsp baby capers
¾ cup/125g Nocellara olives (or other green olive), pitted and roughly chopped in half (2⁄3cup/80g)
9 oz/250g small, sweet cherry tomatoes
2 tsp superfine sugar
1½ tsp caraway seeds, lightly toasted and crushed
9 oz/250g dried orecchiette pasta
2 cups/480ml vegetable or chicken stock
¾ cup plus 2 tbsp/ 200ml water
black pepper

Directions

In a large sauté pan, for which you have a lid, combine 3 tbsp of the olive oil, the garlic, chickpeas, paprika, cumin, tomato paste, and ½ tsp salt and place on medium-high heat. Fry for 12 minutes, uncovered, stirring every now and then, until the chickpeas are slightly crisp—you may need to decrease the heat if they start to colour too much. Remove one-third of the chickpeas and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the parsley, lemon zest, capers, and olives. Add two-thirds of the parsley mixture to the sauté pan, along with the cherry tomatoes, sugar, and caraway seeds and cook for 2 minutes on medium-high heat, stirring often. Add the pasta, stock, water, and ¾ tsp salt and bring to a simmer. Decrease the heat to medium, cover, and cook for 12–14 minutes, or until the pasta is al dente.

Stir the remaining parsley mixture into the pan, drizzle with the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil, and garnish with the reserved fried chickpeas and a good grind of pepper. Serve at once.

Excerpted from Ottolenghi Flavor by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage. Text copyright © 2020 Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage. Photographs copyright © 2020 by Jonathan Lovekin, except page 211 © 2020 by Louise Hagger. Illustrations copyright © 2020 by Nishant Choksi. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.