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Pasta alla Luciana recipe
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Pasta alla Luciana

Last year I went to Naples and had a beautiful plate of Pasta alla Luciana, Baby Octopus Pasta. It’s a wonderful, classic Neapolitan dish that brings the fresh taste of the ocean to your dinner table. Enjoy this dish with pitted black olives and capers swimming in tomato sauce, and pair it with a dry white wine for an amazing dinner.

Equipment

  • 1 Masher
  • 1 pan
  • 1 pot
  • 1 wooden spoon
  • 1 Mixing bowl

Ingredients

  • 500 grams Baby octopus 17.6 oz
  • 2 cloves Garlic diced or minced
  • 25 pitted black olives
  • 2 tbsp Capers in salt
  • 250 grams Cherry tomatoes 8.8 oz
  • Fresh parsley chopped
  • 400 grams Large Rigatoni pasta 14.1 oz
  • 1 Small can peeled tomatoes standard 400g = 14.1 oz
  • Extra virgin olive oil as much as required
  • Salt as much as required
  • Pepper as much as preferred

Instructions

  • Pour the peeled tomatoes into a large bowl. Crush them using your hands or a masher.
  • Put your pan on the stove and turn up to a medium-high heat before adding a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil to it.
  • Crush garlic and add to pan, letting it start to cook and become glossy.
  • Once it softens slightly add baby octopus and cover with lid.
  • Cook the baby octopus on both sides for a total of 10 minutes and stir occasionally. Cooking time may vary depending on the size of your octopus.
  • Add cherry tomatoes and allow to cook with lid for 5 minutes or until the cherry tomatoes are cooked and making love with the baby octopus.
  • Add peeled tomatoes to the pan and cook the sauce for 1 hour. After it has been cooking for 10 minutes, stir it and repeat every so often.
  • Next, cover the sauce with a lid and cook for 20 more minutes until baby octopus is soft and tender.
  • Add water to your large pot and bring to the boil on the stove.
  • Once it boils, add a generous amount of rock salt and boil the Rigatoni according to packet instructions.
  • Remove the lid from your pan, mix sauce with a wooden spoon then add capers, black olives, parsley, salt, and pepper.
  • Cover one last time and turn the heat down to a gentle simmer while your pasta is boiling.
  • Combine cooked rigatoni and sauce in a pan and mix using a wooden spoon, or if you can, toss through making sure all the pasta is lathered in the sauce.

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