Food Notes: 7/29

Spaghetti Alla Siracusa, oysters, lobsters, cheese curds and more.

I had some nice looking eggplants from Saturday’s farmer’s market and decided to turn them into a pasta dish. Spaghetti alla Siracusa has the quintessential flavors of Sicily in a bowl, and a close relative to a more famous Spaghetti alla Puttanesca, known as the prostitute’s pasta.

The main ingredients in a Spaghetti alla Siracusa are eggplant, olives, anchovies, and capers. The iconic Ada Boni has a recipe for Spaghetti alla Siracusa in an early edition of her Il talismano della felicità, the Talisman of Happiness. (An updated translation of the book will be released this October with forwards from Katie Parla and Lidia Bastianich.)

What’s interesting about Siracusa sauce is that it never really became a popular dish in the United States. It’s certainly not part of a national red sauce tradition in the same way other more common sauces like Bolognese or Vodka sauce have become. Instead, the more recently invented Puttanesca sauce, a similar dish without the eggplant, did become quite popular in the latter half of the 20th century. But Puttanesca might just be a Siracusa sauce with better publicity.

Puttanesca has a reputation as the sauce of prostitutes. The phonetics are similar to puttana, meaning an a woman of loose morals, and puttanesco, translates to like a prostitute. And also, Prostitution was legal in parts of Italy through the 1950s as long workers had to adhere to certain privacy laws. For instance, they had to keep their houses locked up, and they weren’t allowed to mingle among innocent wives and daughters, so they often missed out on the fresh markets. Puttanesca sauce is made from ingredients that are canned: olives, anchovies, capers, and tomatoes. Like most Italian food legends, this one is fictional.

There’s also the phrase puttanata, meaning a fuck up. And that’s exactly what Puttanesca is — a sauce that’s messed up. The prostitute story is a lot more scandalous and a little bit risqué, so although Puttanesca’s popularity originates with aa restaurant menu on the Island of Ischia, the prostitute mythology was a lot of fun to share over dinner.

But Siracusa and Puttanesca sauce might actually have closer ties than just an ingredient list. A 1961 novel, Ferito a morte, by Raffaele La Capria, mentions Puttanesca as not from Ischia, but originating from Siracusa. (I dive a bit deeper in this legend in Red Sauce: How Italian Food Became American). In essence, Siracusa and Puttanesca are minor variations on the same sauce, originating in the same place.

So eggplants in hand, I decided to make a Syracuse-style pasta sauce. The first problem with this plan is that my mother is allergic to fish, so I had to leave out the anchovies. My substitute here was a dash of soy sauce, which mostly worked and helped keep the dish vegetarian.

I diced up the eggplant and decided to coat the pieces in rice flour to help them crisp and thicken the sauce. (Yes, I used rice flour on eggplant last week, too).

Once the eggplant pieces cooked up in olive oil, and with a bit of onion (a non-traditional addition), I added in a bit of tomato. The tomato base should be thick and meant to hold it all together rather than saucy. So I used about half a large can of tomatoes for the base (the other half became a quick Hazan-style tomato sauce for our four-year-old). I tossed in some chunked farmers market tomatoes too just for the freshness of the flavor.

Finally, I added a dash of soy sauce (replacing the anchovies), capers, and sliced brown olives. As the sauce was finished, I tossed in the bucatini (which is always better than spaghetti).

Here’s the recipe for The Not Quite Right Vegetarian Bucatini alla Siracusa

Ingredients

• Two eggplants

• Rice flour (for eggplant)

• 1 Onion

• A little more than half a large can of tomatoes

• 4 small fresh tomatoes

• Crushed red pepper flakes

• 1 dozen brown olives, sliced

• 1 Tablespoon capers (or 2 tablespoons, to your taste)

• 1 lb Bucatini (or Spaghetti, if you can’t find Bucatini)

• Dash of soy sauce

• Olive oil

Instructions

• Dice the eggplant

• Soak in cold water for ten minutes

• Drain water

• Soak for another ten minutes

• Drain and pat dry

• Coat lightly in rice flour

• Heat oil with onions until they begin to become translucent, about a minute

• Add the eggplant and cook on light heat

• Add oil of needed to keep from burning

• When the eggplant is nearly cooked, add canned tomatoes, crushing with hands

• Quarter the fresh tomatoes and toss them in

• Season with crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper

• Add soy sauce

• Add capers and olives

• Simmer for about ten minutes while cooking pasta

• Cook the pasta and drain

• Combine pasta and sauce in the pot

• Remove from heat and serve in pot for dramatic flair

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