Pioneer Woman's Pasta Puttanesca

I love the Pioneer Woman. Love her. I want to start a new blog where I do nothing but cook her recipes over and over again. But out of everything I've made of hers (mashed potatoes, pizza crust, blackberry cobbler, pot roast, pork with mango fried rice, tuscan bean soup), I think this is my absolute favorite.

The only change I made to the recipe was use more olives than she calls for (I really, really love olives) and I added some red pepper flakes for heat. To me, a puttanesca sauce is supposed to have some heat to it, and this was lacking that. But seriously, this was so, so delicious. Oh, and if you think you don't like anchovies, make this anyway. I was hesitant, but I remembered how Rachel Ray always said they just kind of melt into the sauce, and give it a rich, salty flavor. So, I went with it. And she was right. The tiny, chopped up anchovies completely disappeared when cooked with everything else. Nothing tasted strange or fishy. Just straight up delicious.

Pioneer Woman's Pasta Puttanesca
(Recipe originally found here.)

Ingredients

• 8 ounces of whole wheat spaghetti
• 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1-1/2 cup of grape/cherry tomatoes, halved
• 3/4 cups of white wine (I used Yellow Tail Chardonnay)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 4 whole anchovy filets
• 1/2 cup of kalamata olives & green (Spanish) olives
• 12 whole basil Leaves
• 2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes
• 4 ounces of parmesan cheese 

Directions

1. Cook pasta until al dente (about 8-10 minutes).
2. Finely chop garlic, anchovies, and olives; then pile them up and run your knife through the whole pile a few times. Set aside.
3. Coarsely chop parmesan cheese, and set aside.
4. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced red onions and cook until tender. Add the tomatoes and let cook for a about 3-5 minutes. Pour in wine and cook for another two minutes, then pour in the garlic/anchovy/olive mixture. Add in the red pepper flakes. Stir and let simmer together until sauce has reduced. Add salt and pepper to taste (trust me... it will not need much salt, if any!).
5. Drain pasta and add to the skillet. Add the crumbled Parmesan and toss to coat pasta in the sauce.
6. Roll basil leaves into logs and chiffonade. Sprinkle over the top.