Slut Spaghetti!

Owing to poor wifi connection, being distracted by the lovely seaside and the general 'holiday' atmosphere, everything has been pretty quiet on the blogging front, revision front and well.. anything productive front.
However, that doesn't mean there was a lull on the cooking side of things; eating wonderful leisurely food is one of my favourite parts of being on holiday.

And, today's delicious recipe epitomises the lazy, easy, sunny feeling of the holiday food that I'm after. Straight from the domestic goddess we all love and know as Nigella Lawson - her take on Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca which translates into english as whore's pasta, i.e. the wonderfully named Slut's Spaghetti.

After watching her make it on TV, I decided to cook it for me and mum one night when we were having a girly night to ourselves, and was pleasantly surprised that it actually was as easy as she made it look. One for people who like strong flavours, it consists of anchovies, olives, capers and garlic in a tomato sauce and here is how you can make it yourself.

Ingredients - This serves 4-6, I halved it for two and still had some left over.

• 3tbsp olive oil
• 8 anchovies, drained and finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1/2 tsp of dried chilli flakes
• 500g spaghetti
• 1 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
• 150g pitted black olives, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp small capers, rinsed and drained
• fresh parsley, to garnish
• salt and pepper to season

'melted' anchcovies

1. Heat your oil in a large shallow frying pan, on a medium heat. 
2. Add the anchovies, cook for 3 minutes whilst stirring and pressing with a wooden spoon until they have, as Nigella says, "melted" (you will see exactly what she means when they are cooking). Add the chilli flakes and the garlic and cook for a further minute
3. Add your spaghetti to a pan of salted boiling water and follow the instructions on the packet in terms of cooking time. 
4. Add the tomatoes, capers and olives and cook for ten minutes, stirring every once in a while; it will thicken at this point. 
5. A great tip here -  when your spaghetti is almost done, remove a small cupful of cooking water and put it to the side. Then, when your pasta is cooked, add it to the frying pan of sauce and you can also add some of the saved pasta water to help the sauce and pasta combine if needs be.

Done. Simple. Sexy. The kind of thing you can imagine eating in an intimate courtyard in some amazing Italian city. Now, all you have to do is "as Nigella would" and eat it in bed, in a slatternly fashion, with your red lipstick on (or not, if your male.. then again, go ahead).

Unfortunately I have now left the costal heaven that is Findhorn and am back to revise for my exams. Still, at least I can always wistfully sigh over how gorgeous it is. Although, it is just tempting to move there and eat spaghetti on the beach for the rest of my life.