Spaghetti with tomatoes and olives

We never really liked olives. It's quite a shocking fact for Mediterraneans like us but it is true. 

However, as of late, I have been forcing myself to buy and cook with olives when the recipe calls for it and, surprisingly, they are finally growing on us. We now have a pot of green olives and one of black olives in the fridge.

Searching through the Italian-style cooking book: recipes of the Italian traditional cooking, I found this recipe from Puglia which, conveniently, uses both green and black olives. We loved it!

Serves: 2 persons.

Ingredients:

• 180g spaghetti (we used linguine because I prefer it to spaghetti), cooked al dente
• 250g of firm and ripe tomatoes.
• 75g of black and green olives (I used 50/50) - black whole and green cut into small pieces
• 1 tbsp cappers
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• marjoram or basil to taste, finely chopped (I used basil) 
• paprika to taste
• salt & pepper to taste
• olive oil to taste

Method:

1. Place the tomatoes in boiling water for a few minutes. Peel them, remove the seeds and mince them. The tomatoes were very soft so I easily minced them by hand.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Fry the garlic in olive oil gently and, before it browns, add the tomatoes, the green and black olives and the cappers.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Just before removing from the heat, add the basil, the paprika, the salt & pepper to taste and a dribble of un-cooked olive oil.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Add the sauce to the pasta and serve immediately.