Puttanesca Sauce over Wild Pacific Cod

First fish dish of 2011....my take on a fish with Puttanesca Sauce. The sauce is made from tomatoes, black olives, capers, anchovies, onions, garlic, and herbs. It is an easy sauce, briefly cooked, and is very fragrant and can even be spicy.

Now we all know the story about this sauce, right? So there are two basic theories of its origin.....the first says that the name, "puttanesca" translates roughly as "in the style of the whore" because the name derives from the Italian word for whore - puttana. Uh...interesting. The story goes that prostitutes made it for themselves for dinner to keep the interruption of their business to a minimum and they made it for the men awaiting their turn at the brothel to keep them occupied while waiting in line.

The second story, according to Wiki, is the dish was invented in the 1950s by a chef named Sandro Petti. That story goes one evening near closing, the chef had a party sitting at one of his tables. He was low on ingredients and told them he did not have enough to make them a proper meal. They complained that it was late and they were hungry. They said "Facci una puttanata qualsiasi", or “make any kind of garbage,”. So in this story, puttanata is used meaning worthless or easy to make, unlike the other story which alleges its origins with prostitutes.

I guess regardless of its actual origin, it tastes great, it is fast and I always have the ingredients on hand in my fridge to make it. In this version, I added half a shaved fennel bulb just to mix it up a bit.

Puttanesca Sauce over Wild Pacific Cod

1 b. Cod (approx. 6 pieces) or other white firm fish such as halibut, monk fish, mahi mahi or tilapia
3 tbs olive oil
2 tsp. anchiove paste
3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
2 cups basic tomato sauce
3-4 whole tomatoes from canned, chopped
1/2 medium sized fennel bulb, thinly sliced
2 tbs capers, whole
½ c cured black olives , pitted and coarsely chopped
Pinch red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper
3 sprigs basil (I only had fresh thyme and it was nice)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly oil a non-reactive oven-safe pan. Place fish skin side down in the pan and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.

While oven is heating....

Place the first 3 ingredients in a large skillet over low heat. Once the anchovies have dissolved add the fennel and sautee until soft and slightly browned, approximately 5-8 minutes. At this point, place fish in preheated oven, and cook for approximately 7-10 minutes depending on thickness, until fish is almost done.

Add remaining sauce ingredients to pan, stir, bring to a boil and cook for a further 8-10 minutes, until fish is almost ready. Take fish from the oven and place in the skillet with the sauce for approximately 2 minutes to let the flavours incorporate and the fish finish cooking. If using fresh herbs, add after you have removed sauce from heat. 

Serve as is or on top of pasta, or with grilled pollenta. We served ours with left-over Risotto Milanese. Top with freshly grated Parmegiano Reggiano if desired. Enjoy!