Recipes

Pasta with Spicy Tomato-Beer Sauce

These puttanesca-style noodles from Italy’s Lombardy region are enriched with a dark lager.

  • Serves

    4

  • Time

    2 hours 15 minutes

Pasta with Spicy Tomato-Beer Sauce
PHOTO: HEAMI LEE • FOOD STYLING: JESSIE YUCHEN

By SAVEUR Editors


Updated on September 20, 2024

In this easy pasta dish, based on one served at Birrificio Italiano, a brewery and restaurant in Italy’s Lombardy region, the puttanesca-style sauce is enriched with Bibock, the brewery’s bock-style beer.

Ingredients

  • 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
  • ¼ cup salt-packed capers, rinsed
  • 8 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
  • 8 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 6 oil-packed anchovy fillets, roughly chopped
  • 4 red Fresno chiles, seeded and roughly chopped
  • 4 gherkins, roughly chopped
  • 2 red onions, roughly chopped
  • One 28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes
  • 12 oz. bock beer
  • ¾ cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 lb. long pasta, such as linguine or scialatielli
  • 8 caper berries, for garnish
  • 2 Tbsp. finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

Instructions

Step 1

To a medium pot over medium-high heat, add the oil. When it’s hot and shimmering, add the capers, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, anchovies, chiles, gherkins, and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the ingredients are browned, about 20 minutes. Add the tomatoes and beer and bring to a boil, then turn the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, about 1½ hours. Transfer the sauce to a blender and pulse until smooth, then scrape it back into the pot and place over low heat. Stir in the olives and season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Step 2

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving a little cooking water, then transfer the pasta to the sauce and toss to combine. Stir a little pasta water into the sauce to loosen if needed. Garnish with caper berries and parsley and serve.

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