Spaghetti alla puttanesca is a bold and spicy tomato-laced dish. The term puttanesca causes huge arguments among Italian cooks who claim that it was a word in reference to, shall we say, the red-light districts of southern Italy! I leave the discussion to them. What gives this sauce its extra punch is the combination of ingredients that go into it: hot red pepper, salty anchovies, plump olives, and briny capers.