Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

I had a dinner party at my house last week and decided it would be fun to go all Italian for them. I had six people including myself so I doubled this recipe to make sure that I had enough for everyone and it was a hit! Everyone seemed to really like the pasta. I served it with a garden salad, bread, and olives. very yummy.

Serves 4

1 package Spaghetti
26 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 can of anchovy fillets, you can use less if you want.
1 heaping tablespoon of capers
10 Kalamata olives
1 clove of garlic
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
hot chile flakes
brown sugar
salt and pepper
fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

• Boil spaghetti in salted water until almost al dente (about 8 minutes). The pasta will finish cooking in the sauce. Strain. 
• Cut cherry tomatoes in half. Mash 6 anchovy fillets with a fork. Roughly chop capers (if you can, not really necessary) Put and chop the kalamata olives. Degerm and mince garlic. Set ingredients aside. 
• Heat a large pan on medium and add olive oil, minced garlic and a small pinch of hot chili flakes. Fry garlic for 2 minutes until golden. 
• Add mashed anchovy fillets. Stir and saute for 30 seconds. 
• Throw in the cherry tomatoes. Turn the head down to medium- low, stir and saute for about 10 more minutes, until tomatoes begin to create a light sauce. Then add chopped capers, 1 heaping tablespoon chopped kalamata olives, a small pinch of brown sugar, a small pinch of sea salt if needed (usually this sauce is salty enough because of the anchovies), and freshly cracked pepper to taste, stir it up. 
• Add the strained pasta to the sauce.
• Sprinkle pasta with a small pinch of fresh minced parsley. Mix well with tongs until pasta finishes cooking al dente, about 5 more minutes.