A little over a year ago, my neighbor introduced me to The New Basics Puttanesca, a sauce made entirely from pantry ingredients: a can of plum tomatoes, a (whole!) tin of anchovies, a (whole!) jar of capers. After everything—there’s garlic, olive oil, and olives in there, too—simmers together for about an hour, you toss it with hot pasta, and call dinner done. It’s one of those miracle dishes that materializes seemingly from nothing, a particularly good one to know this time of year, when fresh inspiration can be lacking.
Colu Henry’s Back Pocket Pasta
A few weeks ago, when I opened Colu Henry’s Back Pocket Pasta, I felt like I had opened a book filled with the progeny of The New Basics puttanesca, a cadre of pantry-inspired recipes, but each with a fresh spin: some incorporate seasonal ingredients (brown buttered squash bake with sage, crème fraîche and Fontina), others call for fresh seafood (grilled squid with chilies and mint), many are simple and practical (one pot with spinach and goat cheese), some are jazzed up with crispy capers and bread crumbs. I want to make everything. So far I’ve made two. I wrote about the alla vodka recipe a few weeks ago, but this baked ziti was the first dish I made—five minutes after the book arrived at my door, I scoured my pantry and fridge, the image of a spoon pulling melty mozzarella from a brimming casserole inspiring the mad search. Without everything on hand, I, in Back Pocket fashion, improvised: some kale and chard replaced the spinach, heavy cream filled in for much of the crème fraîche, and vegan chorizo stepped in for the sausage. Even with many substitutions, the baked ziti was utterly delicious. The following evening, I made the baked ziti again, this time more to the letter, for a small gathering of friends (6 adults and 8 children). I’m stating the obvious here, but baked ziti, this one in particular, is so great for feeding a crowd. We gobbled it up with BPP’s croutonless Caesar salad, a perfect side for this hearty dish.
4.9 from 19 reviews As noted in the post, the first time I made this, I made many substitutions: I only had a little bit of crème fraîche, so I made up the difference with heavy cream. I had a mix of Swiss chard and kale on hand, so I used those in place of the baby spinach. I even used vegan chorizo in place of hot Italian sausage. This is definitely a recipe that lends itself to improvising. I think you could definitely leave out the sausage if you wanted to make it vegetarian. Regarding tomatoes: I used one 28-oz can of whole plum tomatoes, which I snipped with scissors right in the pan, and 14-oz Pomi crushed tomatoes—I love the Pomi brand—which I measured out using a liquid measure. It’s about 1 3/4 cups. This is just what I had on hand. When I make it again, I’ll use all crushed tomatoes for ease.
