[REBROADCAST FROM March 15, 2021] Sam Sifton, food editor of The New York Times and founding editor of NYT Cooking, discusses The New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipes, the debut cookbook from the website and its app. The book has over 100 ideas for dishes meant to inspire -- all without specific measurements. Cooks are encouraged to add, subtract, and adapt the recipes to their own diets and palates.

Pasta PuttanescaAnchoviesGarlicOlive oilPastaCanned tomatoesOlivesCapersRed pepper flakesParmesan

Sauté some anchovies and a lot of minced garlic in a lot of olive oil while your salted pasta water comes to a boil in a big pot. (How many anchovies? How many you got? I go for a minimum of four, and the same with cloves of garlic.) Add your pasta to the pot. When the fish are melted and the garlic’s gone gold, add a large can of tomatoes and stir everything together. Let that simmer a while, and get a little thicker, then add the olives and capers, and red pepper flakes until it’s as fiery as you like. Taste for salt and pepper. Keep simmering and, when the pasta is done to your liking, taste the sauce again, drain the pasta, and toss it with the sauce. Shower the dish with grated Parmesan and serve.

Tip

You can cook the dried pasta directly in the sauce if you like, adding a couple cups of water or chicken stock and covering the pan for 10 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.

Reprinted from The New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipes. Text copyright © 2021 by Sam Sifton and The New York Times Company. Photographs copyright © 2021 by David Malosh and Food Styling by Simon Andrews. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House.