Roasted Tomato Linguine Puttanesca
Spicy, briny, and oh-so flavorful, this roasted tomato linguine puttanesca is easy to put together and virtually fool-proof. Most of all, it’s delicious!
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Roasted Tomato Linguine Puttanesca
Linguine puttanesca is one of my favorite pasta dishes, irresistible with its medley of olives, capers, and anchovies clinging to slippery threads of linguine. Its rousing flavors are enough to keep the fork twirling, but the inclusion of smoky roasted tomatoes and a crunchy breadcrumb topping make it a contender for one of my desert island foods. I’m also looking at you, Italian sausage and peppers.
Although puttanesca is traditionally made with marinara sauce, I love it equally with roasted cherry tomatoes. Sure, you lose the sauce, but I like the difference roasted tomatoes lend, and it allows the other flavors to flex their pungency a little more. The overall result feels a little lighter, too, although that makes reaching for seconds more likely. But who am I kidding? I rarely eat pasta without reaching for seconds. In fact, I’m often thinking about seconds while eating my firsts.
Anyhoo, if you’ve been peeking around this blog for a while, you might have noticed I’m a big fan of toasted panko breadcrumbs. They’re an excellent substitute for when Parmesan isn’t recommended or even when it is. Not surprisingly, I think these breadcrumbs are a wonderful addition here with their garlicky crunch.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Panko Breadcrumbs
- Granulated Garlic
- Linguine
- Fresh Garlic
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Anchovies
- Kalamata Olives
- Capers
- Flat-leaf Italian Parsley
Why You’ll Love This Roasted Tomato Linguine Puttanesca
It’s a twist on the classic: Roasted cherry tomatoes and a crispy panko topping are a nice change to the traditional marinara sauce.
It relies (mainly) on pantry ingredients: The ability to make something so flavorful with mostly pantry ingredients is always a win-win.
Pro Tips
Use as many or as few olives, capers, and anchovies as you like: I think this recipe needs more of everything than it might if making it with marinara sauce because you don’t have the sauce here to help “carry” the ingredients. However, this is a forgiving recipe, so feel free to reduce the amount of olives, capers, or anchovies or increase them according to your taste.
Measure the amount of cherry tomatoes needed after you roast them: The tomatoes will shrink as they roast, but 2 10-ounce containers yield about 1 cup (or a little more) cooked, which this recipe calls for.
Check for pits: If your olives aren’t pitted, be sure to un-pit, de-pit, or whatever-pit before you use them!
Suggestions for Variations and Substitutions
- Sautée some minced onions or shallots with the garlic. It’s not traditional here, but neither are roasted tomatoes.
- Use any olives you like. Kalamata olives are easy to find and delicious, but there are so many wonderful black and even green olives that would work well here, such as Gaeta, Nicoise, and Castelvetrano.
- Use any fresh tomatoes you like: I love the sweetness of cherry tomatoes, but if you have other tomatoes on hand and want to use them up, such as Roma or vine, they’ll also be good. Just note that they’ll probably need more time to roast than cherry tomatoes.
- You can swap the linguine with any other pasta.
Leftovers
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator and consume within three days.
Do you have leftover Kalamata olives (or even capers)? Use them in these Italian peppers with olives and breadcrumbs.
Linguine Puttanesca
Ingredients
For the Roasted Tomatoes
- 4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes , cooked (about two 10 ounce packages), sliced lengthwise
For the Panko Breadcrumb Topping
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
For the Linguine Puttanesca
- 16 ounces linguine
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves, sliced thin
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste
- 6 anchovy fillets
- 1 cup kalamata olives, sliced lengthwise
- 2 tablespoons capers
- Handful Italian flat-leaf parsley, minced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Add the sliced tomatoes to a large sheet pan and toss with the olive oil and some salt. Assemble the tomatoes skin side down, and roast them in the oven on the bottom rack for about 30 minutes until they start to shrivel and the bottoms get a little charred. If you're roasting tomatoes for the first time, check them after 15 minutes and then every few minutes after that in case your oven runs hotter.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the linguine until al dente or until it reaches the desired tenderness.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil for the panko in a large pan (You'll use the same pan later to prepare the puttanesca "sauce.") Throw in a couple of granules of panko; if they sizzle, throw in the rest with the granulated garlic and a pinch of salt. Toss frequently until the breadcrumbs turn golden brown, then transfer them to a small bowl. Carefully wipe the inside of the pan with a paper towel to remove any remaining crumbs, which might burn later if left behind.
- Following the linguine instructions in the recipe card, heat the olive oil in the same pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until golden. Sprinkle in the red pepper flakes, stir them quickly for a few seconds, then add the anchovies. Break up the anchovies into the oil until they almost dissolve.
- Toss in the tomatoes, olives, and capers, and stir with the other ingredients, heating everything through for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Reserve about 1 cup of pasta water before draining the linguine. Toss the linguine with the tomato mixture, and add some of the pasta water to "loosen" the sauce. Serve and garnish with the panko breadcrumbs, fresh parsley, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, if desired. Enjoy!