A Sauce That Almost Outshines the Main Event

Spoon this puttanesca-inspired compote over chicken, pasta, and these grilled swordfish steaks.
A Sauce That Almost Outshines the Main Event
Anchovies lend discreet umami notes to this roasted tomato and pepper sauce. Lynda Balslev for Tastefood
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It’s tempting to focus solely on the sauce in this recipe, since you may want to eat it with a spoon. I won’t discourage you from that, but I will suggest you make a large batch so you can enjoy it as a versatile and year-round condiment.

This recipe looks to the Italian puttanesca sauce for inspiration. It’s packed with juicy summer tomatoes, sweet peppers, and briny olives and capers, and it’s subtly infused with anchovy.

Lynda Balslev
Lynda Balslev
Author
Lynda Balslev is a cookbook author, food and travel writer, and recipe developer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she lives with her Danish husband, two children, a cat, and a dog. Balslev studied cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris and worked as a personal chef, culinary instructor, and food writer in Switzerland and Denmark. Copyright 2025 Lynda Balslev. Distributed by Andrews McMeel Syndication.