Puttanesca pizza draws inspiration from one of Naples' most popular recipes: pasta puttanesca. The dish fuses the assertive flavors of anchovies, capers, and olives with tomatoes. Pasta is then added to and cooked in the sauce, resulting in a bold preparation that dances on the palate. The pasta is traditionally served with spaghetti or types of long pasta like linguine. Recently, though, puttanesca has started stared to appear as a pizza topping here in Italy.
Giorgio Caruso, the pizzaiolo of Lievità, a gourmet pizzeria with four locations in Milan, makes a cheese-free puttanesca pizza that's light, satiating, and just downright irresistible. His selection of top-quality ingredients certainly plays a fundamental role in making the pizza so delightful.
Originally from Campania, puttanesca sauce is usually composed of regional ingredients: San Marzano DOP tomatoes (hand-crushed as per tradition), anchovies from Cetara, black olives from Caiazzo, extra-virgin olive oil from Salerno, capers, red garlic, wild oregano, and fresh basil. Of course, if you're not near Campania, use the finest quality ingredients that you have at your disposal.
The pizzaiolo's advice for making puttanesca pizza at home
Pasta alla puttanesca calls for dissolving the anchovies with the sautéed vegetables at the start of cooking. When making puttanesca pizza, however, the anchovies and herbs should only be added after the pizza has been cooked, so they can be enjoyed at their most flavorful.
If you want to give it a try at home, here's our recipe for homemade pizza dough.
We know making pizza at home can be tricky as domestic ovens aren't equipped to reach the high temperatures of professional ones, but you can give it whirl with one of these three homemade pizza devices. Each of these tools is designed to help pack maximize heat and reap optimum results akin to those of a professional oven.