Italian cuisine is known for its rich and diverse flavors, and Penne Al’Arrabbiato perfectly embodies this. This spicy pasta dish hails from Rome, the capital city known for its traditional and varied food culture. ‘Arrabbiato’ in Italian means ‘angry’, and the name of the dish is a nod to the fiery heat of the red peppers used in it. This dish is a beautiful concoction of tomatoes, garlic, parsley, and red peppers, cooked to perfection and tossed with penne pasta. The result is an incredibly flavorful and spicy delight that sets your taste buds on a tantalizing journey. The beauty of this dish is its simplicity – it doesn’t require any extravagant ingredients or complex cooking techniques. Yet, the flavors are so profound and robust that they leave a lasting impression. What I personally love about Penne Al’Arrabbiato is its perfect balance of heat, tanginess, and freshness. The tomatoes and garlic create a rich and tangy base, the red peppers provide the kick, and the parsley adds a touch of freshness. Cooking this dish is a joy in itself – the aroma of garlic and tomatoes sautéing in olive oil, the vibrant red of the sauce, and the sound of pasta sizzling as it’s tossed with the sauce. It’s a symphony of senses that makes the cooking process as enjoyable as the eating.
Ingredients
- 2 cans (14 oz.) Italian-style tomatoes, chopped
- 1 to 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 3 to 4 cloves garlic
- 1 Tbsp. minced parsley (more if fresh parsley is used)
- whole tiny red peppers (to your taste)
- salt
- pasta (DeCecco; penne, plain or rigati)
Cooking Method
- Put on water to boil (and when boiling put in penne). Meanwhile, saute garlic in the olive oil briefly then add tomatoes, parsley, whole peppers and salt.
- (Always prepare this sauce in an open skillet.)
- Simmer until pasta is cooked.
- Mix the sauce with the drained pasta and top with sprigs of fresh parsley.
Calorie: 500
Total cooking time: 30 minutes
Difficulty level: Easy
The Great Pasta Escapade
Ah, pasta, the dish that brings together Italians, college students, and everyone in between. Today, we’re tackling the mouth-watering Penne Al’Arrabbiato, a dish so good, it’ll have you saying “Mamma Mia!” in no time.
The Ingredients Gathering
As per tradition, we first gather our ingredients. We’re talking about 2 cans of luscious **Italian-style tomatoes**, a splash of **olive oil**, a handful of **garlic** cloves, a sprinkle of **parsley**, a few spicy **red peppers**, a pinch of **salt**, and of course, the star of the show, our **pasta**. Just writing this is making my stomach grumble in anticipation.
Pasta Plunge
Next up in our pasta escapade, we crank up the heat and get our water boiling. It’s pasta diving time! Today, we’re working with DeCecco penne. Plain or rigati, it doesn’t matter. Pasta is pasta, my friends. As the pasta takes its hot bath, we move over to the fun part.
Sauce Saute
We heat up our olive oil, but not too hot now, we don’t want to scare off our garlic. We sauté the garlic briefly, just until it starts blushing with golden-brown color. Then, in go our chopped Italian-style tomatoes, minced parsley, whole red peppers, and a dash of salt. Always remember, this sauce is a free spirit. It likes to simmer in an open skillet, feel the breeze, get a tan.
Patience and Pasta
Now the waiting game begins. As the sauce simmers and the pasta cooks, the aroma filling the kitchen is enough to make you consider eating the raw ingredients (don’t do it, trust me, I speak from experience). Our simmering sauce and boiling pasta are like two lovers, each preparing to meet the other.
The Grand Finale
Finally, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. The pasta is drained and ready to be united with its saucy companion. We mix the sauce with the pasta, each strand of penne lovingly coated. To top it all off, we adorn our creation with sprigs of fresh parsley, because let’s face it, everything looks fancier with a bit of green on top.
The Aftermath
And there you have it, folks, a plate of Penne Al’Arrabbiato that would make any Italian nonna proud. The kitchen may look like a tomato exploded and I may have pasta sauce on my forehead, but it was all worth it for this delicious dish. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with a bowl of pasta and a very large spoon. Buon Appetito!
