Italian Recipes: Fiery Penne (Penne all'arrabbiata)

Preparation time: 5 mins

Cooking: 25 mins

Difficulty: Easy

Firstly, this fiery dish gains its name arrabbiata (angry) because of the use of chilli. When preparing this angry dish, feel free to use as much chilli as you want, it is up to you and to your mouth, to make it angry or very angry!

This is a recipe that has its origin in the central part of Italy, more precisely, it belongs to the Roman cooking tradition. As you can imagine, in Italy there are many versions of it because of the different regional cooking traditions that influence this famous dish; some are so adventurous that they have nothing to do with a proper arrabbiata (like the use of cream or anchovies).

I believe the best arrabbiata is in its minimalist form and I believe that an arrabbiata should not contain pork meat (usually bacon) because otherwise we would trespass on another famous Roman dish, the “Bucatini all’amatriciana”, which rightly requires pork meat. The arrabbiata, in its simple way, is an aglio, oglio e peperoncino with the adding of chopped tomatoes, where fresh top quality ingredients should be used. Also, the adding of Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese is not recommended because it would overwhelm the typical flavour of this dish.

SERVES 4

Ingredients (Metric & Imperial measurements)

400 g (14 oz) Penne rigate (ridged quill pasta)
90 ml (3 1/2 oz) Extra virgin olive oil
2 Cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
2 or 3 Whole dried red chilli (roughly chopped)
500 g (1.1 lb) Chopped tomatoes
A small handful of flat leaf parsley (roughly chopped)

Salt for seasoning

Ingredients (U.S measurements)

14 ounces Penne rigate (ridged quill pasta)
6 tablespoons (3/8 cup) Extra virgin olive oil
2 Cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
2 or 3 Whole dried red chilli (roughly chopped)
18 ounces (1 pound 2 ounces) Chopped tomatoes
A small handful of flat leaf parsley (roughly chopped)
Salt for seasoning

Directions:

Chop the garlic and chilli.

Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan (medium heat) and add the chopped ingredients (garlic/chilli) into the pan.

Sauté for a couple of minutes or until the garlic becomes golden in colour.

When the garlic has turned to golden, add the chopped tomatoes.

Stir for a few seconds.

Season with salt.

Stir again for a few seconds.

Now, cook on medium/low heat for about 20-25 minutes, to reduce the sauce. After this time the suace will be ready.

A few minutes before the arrabbiata sauce is ready, boil your pasta and when the pasta is cooked al dente, drain it and add it into the pan containing the sauce.