Instructions

Pour the olive oil into a pan large enough to hold all of the cooked pasta later. Add the chopped garlic and the red pepper flakes and heat over medium heat just until the garlic begins to turn golden. Be careful not to let it brown.

Add the tomatoes and all of their juices and salt. Bring to a simmer and add the olives.

Let cook at a medium high heat for about 20 minutes. If the sauce seems to be reducing too fast, add a half cup of water.

In the meantime bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the pasta until al dente.

Drain the pasta and add to the pot with the sauce, stirring to combine. Add the parsley and stir.

Serve, making sure everyone gets some olives. Also make sure to tell people the olives still have pits!! And it's a good idea to provide a few littles plates where people can place their discarded pits. If they put them back on their plate they may end up eating them and breaking a tooth!

In keeping with the yellow theme of the dinner I also made the recipe for Safron Panna Cotta from Sky McAlpine's book A Table in Venice. I will never make plane old panna cotta again. I loved it's exotic slightly savory taste and it paired perfectly with the bottle of aged Chardonnay Nonino Grappa that was also happily in my pantry.