Pasta in Arrabiata Sauce (Red sauce)

Here is some Italian cooking folks! This delicious tomato based sauce goes perfectly with Penne.

Ingredients for Pasta in Arrabiata Sauce:

Pasta – 250g (Penne Rigate`)

Chicken – 100g (Boneless, cleaned & cut into thin strips)

Onion – 1 big (Finely sliced)

Tomato – 5 big (3 - boil, peel & puree, 2 - Chopped)

Garlic - 4-5 cloves (Finely chopped)

Crushed Pepper – 1-2 Tbsp

Chilly Powder – 1-2 Tbsp

Thyme – 1 tbsp

Parsley – 1 Tbsp

Olive oil & Salt – As required

Cheese - Optional

Process to prepare Pasta in Arrabiata Sauce:

Boiling Pasta:

Take a deep dish and fill it with water. Add salt & 1 Tbsp olive oil and bring it to boil. Now, put in the pasta and stir so that they do not stick to the bottom of the pan. It should normally take 8-10 minutes for it to cook. Do not stir much, as it leads to breaking of pasta. Once cooked, drain the water. Drizzle the pasta with some olive oil. This would glaze the pasta and avoids getting stuck to each other. Set it aside.

Arrabiata Sauce: (Arrabiata means ‘Angry’ in Italian)

Take a wide wok on medium heat with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Put in the sliced onions. Let them turn to a slight golden brown and now drop in the garlic. Give it a good stir and put in the chopped tomatoes, sprinkle little salt & chilly powder, stir and cover with lid. This would take about 5-6 minutes before the tomatoes get properly cooked. Now put in the chicken & crushed pepper and cover it. Crushed pepper is a must and not the pepper powder for the right flavour and aroma of the dish. Chicken should be cooked in 8-10 minutes. Take out the lid and pour in the tomato puree. Give it a good stir and a taste as well. You can very well adjust the taste to your preference in terms of salt, chilly powder & pepper. Remember the name! Arrabiata Sauce (angry & spicy sauce).

Now before you take it off heat, sprinkle the herbs and stir it.

Pour in the sauce into the boiled pasta and mix well. You can as well grate little of your favourite cheese to make it even yummier just before serving.

Hope you’d enjoy the Pasta in Arrabiata Sauce as much as I did.

Vegetarians:

The best replacement for chicken would be mushrooms. But the cooking time is lesser when compared to chicken. So please have an eye on that.