Love Bite: Food for Pleasure, Valentine's Day and a Sexy Puttanesca Recipe
Words: Lauren O’Neill
Make it stand out
Food is romantic, it just is. Think about it: Lady and the Tramp sucking on a string of spaghetti; buying a friend or lover a packet of sweets from the shop when you pop in for some bog roll, just to see the smile on their face when you hand them over. Giving someone your last Rolo. Feeding someone, or eating with them, in any way, is always an act of love.
That’s why I always think of Valentine’s Day as a particularly fun time for food and eating. I like all of the tacky chocolates in the shop – caramel hearts wrapped in red and pink foil in a little net, addressed to Someone Special – and I like browsing the Dine In For Two ranges in the supermarket, just to imagine the comfy evenings people might have on their sofas while they scrape forks around a foil dish of Dauphinoise or microwave a twin pack of gooey chocolate puddings, watching something crap on TV - the normality of it exactly the point.
Because even if you are just sitting on the couch, a nice dinner always helps you to make an occasion of something, and considering that both food and romance have their physical, sensual elements, I think they’re natural bedfellows. It just makes sense: Two spoons clinking together in the sundae glass, hands grazing each other over a bread basket, you know? There’s something about sitting across from someone, dining with them, probably eating a satisfying food, that kind of brings you closer, in a way.
The best Valentine’s foods, then, are the ones that feel kind of indulgent or extra – pastas so saucy you get it on your nose, desserts full of chocolate, caramel or cream. To revel and luxuriate feels in line with the season, to simply enjoy yourself, to give yourself over to absolute pleasure, as a wise character in a musical once said. In that spirit, in order to help you celebrate St. Valentine’s day practically (don’t say I never give you anything), I’ve included my very easy recipe for Puttanesca, the sexiest, messiest and most delicious of all the pastas, below. Make it for someone you love or someone you fancy and give them a garlicky snog afterwards.
___STEADY_PAYWALL___
Sexy Puttanesca, For Two
You will need -
400g tomatoes, fresh or tinned (splash out on the Best range, you won’t regret it)
Tinned anchovies in their oil (again, get the nice ones)
A clove of garlic
A couple of tablespoons of black olives
One tablespoon of capers
A little dried oregano
Dried chilli
Salt and pepper
1) Chop the olives into little rounds like you get on top of a pizza. Crush the garlic. If you’re using fresh tomatoes, chop them up and put them to one side.
2) Heat a frying pan or similar on medium heat.
3) When the pan is warm, add the oil from the anchovy tin. When it’s a little hot, add the anchovies and let them cook until they melt down. Then add the garlic and cook for a minute or until it’s golden (make sure the pan isn’t too hot or it’ll burn).
4) Next add the tomatoes, and add the capers, olives, oregano, and a pinch of dried chilli flakes. If you’re using canned, just pour them in, and if you’re using fresh, pop them into the pan and let them melt down too, on a simmer – the sauce is ready for the next bit when it starts looking jammy instead of watery, about 15 mins.
5) While the sauce is developing, cook the pasta – I’d go for spaghetti because it’s a slurpy one – reserving the water it’s cooked in. When the sauce looks like it has come together, swirl in the pasta and a ladle of pasta water, until it all looks glossy. Season it with black pepper and maybe a little salt (be careful because the anchovies are already pretty salty), and serve it up with some bread for mopping up the sauce.
