There is no better #vanlife dinner than Pasta Puttanesca. All the ingredients are shelf stable (no refrigeration required) and none of the ingredients are expensive. Although similar pasta dishes date from the mid-1800s, the modern version first appeared in the 1950s at a restaurant on the Italian island of Ischia.

However, a more interesting origin is mentioned on a Wikipedia page (yes, Puttanesca has its own wiki entry), where food historian Jeremy Parzen suggests the name derives from the fact that “Italians use puttana (and related words) almost the way we use shit, as an all-purpose profanity, so pasta alla puttanesca might have originated with someone saying, essentially, ‘I just threw a bunch of shit from the cupboard into a pan’.”

Let’s eat!

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 tin anchovies, drained
• 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 3 Tbs capers (plus a little of their juice)
• 16 Kalamata olives, crushed slightly with the back of a spoon
• 32 oz can diced Italian tomatoes
• About 10 oz angel hair pasta (a little more than half a box)
• ½ cup (or more!) red wine
• Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

In a medium sauce pan, sauté garlic, anchovies, Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper until anchovies melt into the oil. Add capers, olives, red wine, and canned tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook gently until alcohol burns off. In the meantime, cook pasta according to package directions, and drain. Mix pasta and sauce together and spoon into bowls, topping everything with Parmesan cheese.

Easy! Van-friendly! And, oh so good!