Pasta Puttanesca
Every ingredient is shelf-stable. Day 6 dinner that doesn't taste like day 6.
The ultimate pantry meal. Every single ingredient is shelf-stable: canned tomatoes, olives, capers, anchovies, garlic, red pepper flakes, dried pasta. No cooler required. Boil pasta in filtered river water, make the sauce in another pot, combine. Fifteen minutes of active cooking and you have a dinner that tastes like you planned it, not like you ran out of options. This is the recipe that proves the last nights of a trip don't have to be sad.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs dried spaghetti or penne Penne is easier in camp — no twirling, easier to serve with tongs
- 2 cans (28 oz each) canned crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup kalamata olives — drained, roughly chopped Jarred or canned
- 3 tbsp capers — drained Small jar. Don't rinse — the brine adds flavor.
- 1 tin (2 oz) anchovies — chopped They melt into the sauce. Even anchovy-skeptics won't taste them as fish — they just add depth.
- 6 cloves garlic — sliced thin
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes More if the group likes heat
- 4 tbsp olive oil Good olive oil makes a difference here since the sauce is simple
- 1 tsp dried oregano (optional)
- to taste salt Salt the pasta water aggressively. The sauce ingredients are already salty, so taste before adding more to the sauce.
- 4 oz wedge parmesan cheese (optional) — grated If you still have a parmesan wedge on day 6, use it. If not, the sauce stands alone.
Method
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil on the propane stove. Salt it heavily — it should taste like the ocean. Use filtered river water if your supply is running low.
- While water heats, start the sauce. Heat olive oil in a second pot over medium. Add sliced garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook 60 seconds until garlic is fragrant but not brown.
- Add anchovies to the oil and stir. They'll break apart and dissolve in about a minute. Add olives and capers, stir another 30 seconds.
- Pour in crushed tomatoes. Add oregano. Stir, bring to a simmer, and let it cook 10-15 minutes while the pasta boils. The sauce should thicken slightly.
- Cook pasta to just under al dente — it'll finish in the sauce. Reserve a cup of pasta water before draining. Add drained pasta to the sauce pot, toss to coat, and add splashes of pasta water to loosen if needed.
- Serve in bowls with grated parmesan if you have it. A drizzle of olive oil on top finishes it.
Gear
Required
- large pot
- propane stove
Optional
- second pot for sauce
- colander or lid for draining
- tongs
Field Notes
This is the most reliable recipe in the entire trip menu. Nothing can go wrong with the ingredients — they're all shelf-stable and nearly indestructible. The one thing to watch is the pasta water. At elevation (Desolation Canyon is around 4,500 feet at put-in), water boils at a lower temperature and pasta takes slightly longer to cook. Taste it. On a single-burner stove, boil the pasta first, drain it, then make the sauce in the same pot to save fuel. The olives and capers provide so much salt that you probably won't need to add any to the sauce — taste first.
Variations
Tuna Puttanesca
Drain and flake 2 cans of tuna into the sauce in the last 2 minutes. Adds protein and makes it more substantial for a hungry group.
- 2 cans tuna added to sauce
Arrabbiata
Strip it down: just canned tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and double the red pepper flakes. Skip the olives, capers, and anchovies. Clean and fiery.
- remove olives, capers, anchovies
- double red pepper flakes
Packing
Everything lives in dry boxes. The anchovy tin is small — tuck it into the spice kit. Pasta is fragile in bags — keep it in the box or transfer to a hard-sided container.
Dietary
Vegetarian and vegan by omitting anchovies — add a tablespoon of miso paste or soy sauce to replace the umami depth. Gluten-free with GF pasta. Already dairy-free without the optional parmesan.