Food You Can Eat: Celebrity Sunday Matinee: Harrison Ford’s Pasta Puttanesca

Ya know, there are so many celebrity recipes floating around out there that I try to find a hook to hang some of them on. Well, today is the 41st anniversary of the day Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark was released in theaters, becoming a huge summer blockbuster. Since then it has been rebroadcast approximately 41 million times. 

Harrison Ford (his real name) was born in Chicago and like all overnight successes spent years taking uncredited bit parts in middling or unsuccessful movies. In the early 70s he taught himself to be a carpenter out of desperation to find some way to support his wife and two young children, and got a gig in Malibu doing some work for Joan Didion and her husband John Gregory Dunne. They became pals and if I were Harry I would have stopped right there and been content being chummy with the Didion-Dunnes. Oddly, though the Didion-Dunnes were active Hollywood players, it was not through them that he was introduced to George Lucas, who cast him in 1973’s American Graffiti. The list of young actors (young-ish, Ford was 31 when it came out) who appeared in that film is as long as my arm, and I take a 36” sleeve. Lucas kept him in mind when he was casting Star Wars and Ford never looked back. 

Aside from the lucrative Star Wars franchise, Ford has residuals from all those Indiana Jones movies to keep him warm at night. He was also in one of my favorite movies, Working Girl, the sub-par movie-version revisit of The Fugitive, and the unforgivable Sabrina. He was in Blade Runner (excellent) and its sequel Blade Runner 2049 (haven’t seen it out of fear that it’ll be horrible, like most sequels.) He made two films with Peter Weir, Witness and The Mosquito Coast, and two Tom Clancy potboiler adaptations, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. He also accepted Roman Polanski’s Oscar for him in 2002 when Polanski won for directing The Pianist, because he and Polanski are very close apparently? And so on and that’s enough, I’m getting hungry. Oh, Harry is famously married to Calista Flockhart (third wife) and has five children. He turns 80 next month, July 13th.

Harrison Ford’s Pasta Puttanesca

I can find no evidence of where this was first published, only that it exists. Likewise, no one really knows why this traditional pasta is called “puttanesca.” Puttana is the Italian word for “whore,” so this translates to “whore-esque,” or “in the style of the whore.” There are three theories:

The first is that the prostitutes made it for themselves to keep the interruption of their business to a minimum. The second is that they made it for the men awaiting their turn at the brothel. And the final version is that it was a favorite of married women who wished to limit their time in the kitchen so that they may visit their paramour.

Hmmm. Anyway:

Ingredients:

1/4 c. olive oil

1 med. onion, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

4 anchovy fillets, chopped [If you omit these the dish becomes vegetarian, but this originally comes from Naples so you really shouldn’t]

1/2 c. pitted, sliced black Niçoise olives

3 tbsp. capers, drained

1 tsp. herbes de Provence [YES, HAN SOLO AND YOUR COUSIN MATTIE HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON!] or a mixture of minced fresh basil and oregano

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

2 15-oz. cans crushed tomatoes

salt and ground pepper to taste

1 lb. dried pasta

1/4 c. minced fresh Italian parsley

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In a large sauté pan or skillet, heat the olive oil over med. heat. Add onion and garlic, sauté until the onion is transparent, about 2 min. Add anchovies, olives, capers, herbs, and red pepper flakes. Sauté for 3 min. Stir in tomatoes, salt and black pepper; simmer, uncovered, over low heat for 40 min. Fill a large pot 3/4-full with water and bring to boil over high heat. Cook pasta according to package. directions until al dente. Drain in a colander and return to pot. Add sauce, mix well to coat the pasta. Transfer to a large serving bowl, garnish with parsley. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

[If you’re buff and weight-conscious like Han Solo, serves 4. If you’re more Wookie-like, like me, serves about 2. What happened with us was we had leftover puttanesca sauce on our plates, having eaten all the pasta, so I spooned that into a bowl, refrigerated it overnight, warmed it the next day, and served it smeared on toasted slices from an Italian loaf I had as a little side to a jumbo container of Whole Foods™ shrimp bisque. I toasted two more slices from the Italian loaf to soak up the bisque as we went along. That lunch was the exact opposite of a keto meal.]