Spaghetti alla puttanesca:
First, put the spaghetti in boiling salted water. Then remove the bones from the anchovies, rinse them under running water to remove the salt and place them in a saucepan with the garlic and the chopped peppers. Sauté until the garlic is golden and the anchovies are dissolved in the oil. Finally, add the peeled tomatoes, the pitted olives and the capers, well washed and squeezed, and cook gently until the spaghetti is al dente.
Then pour off the water and mix the spaghetti with the sauce.
Alice Vollenweider: The aromatic spiciness of Abruzzo’s cuisine goes perfectly with the dry herb brandy that the host always offered us at the end of the meal. It is called Centerbe – meaning a hundred kitchen herbs – and is distilled from mountain herbs: its color is greenish, its flavor intense, and it is so strong that it burns in the throat almost like a peperoncino. The Abruzzese claim that the fire in the glass and the fire in the plate help them to survive the cold winter – the fireplace alone is not enough.
Our tip: If you like to cook with fresh herbs, it’s best to get kitchen herbs in pots – that way you’ll always have everything on hand!