A plate of pasta with shrimp, olives, and tomato sauce.

We Cook! Shrimp Puttanesca – Anthony Salemme

July 24, 2025/Anthony Salemme

By Anthony Salemme, contributing chef

Serves 4

A quick and easy; a bit spicy and briny sauce with shrimp and pasta is a classic dish from Naples

1 pound shrimp, peeled and de-veined

1 14-ounce can plum tomatoes, crushed with your hands

6 tablespoons olive oil

6 cloves garlic, peeled roughly chopped

6 anchovy fillets or 2 Tablespoons anchovy paste

1 ½ teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons capers

½ cup black olives pitted and chopped about 4 ounces

12 ounces dry Tagliatelle pasta

2 ounces pecorino, grated

6-8 basil leaves, chopped fine

In a skillet, add the olive oil until hot; next add garlic, anchovies, crushed red pepper, olives and capers. Cook 5 minutes, then add the shrimp. Cook 3 minutes on one side and flip over add the tomatoes and cook 5-7 minutes longer.

Boil the Tagliatelle while you are making the sauce until it is al dente. With tongs, add the spaghetti to the sauce. Toss the spaghetti with sauce and shrimp, adding some pasta water to coat the spaghetti. Cook 2 minutes longer.

Divide evenly into pasta bowls, scatter basil and pecorino over the top.

_____