“Penne with Arrabbiata spicy hot sauce” recipe – “Penne all’Arrabbiata”

Instructions

• 1.

  Putting the water to boil and peeling the tomatoes

  • Water - 5lt (for the pasta)
  • Water - 3lt (for the tomatoes)
  • Plum tomatoes (San Marzano) - 750gr
  in alternative, you can use rady made peeled plum tomatoes and their liquor
  • Extra Virgin olive oil - 70gr
  • Suited garlic - 4 cloves

  Put the water for pasta to boil on a high power heat: you will salt it later when it will come to a stable boil (step 1 - pic. A).
  Put a small saucepan on high power heat with 3lt of water and bring it almost to the boiling point: very small bubbles will form on the bottom. Take of the plum tomatoes’ leaf stalks and thoroughly wash them under running water. Then drop them into the small saucepan with hot water (step 1 - pic. B).
  Put the frying pan with the extra virgin olive oil and the unpeeled garlic cloves on a low and gentle heat and let them gain flavour (step 1 - pic. C).
  As soon as the the tomatoes’ skins crack (it will take 2 minutes or even less) stain them quickly and put them on a chopping board. Carve off the hard top end with a paring knife, then peel them off using also with the help of a fork (step 1 - pic. D).
  Cut the peeled tomatoes in half longwise and scoop out their seedy centre with a spoon: seeds will not be used in the sauce (step 1 - pic. E).
  With a sharp chef knife, chop each half into long strips, then into small dices and put aside (step 1 - pic. F).
  

• 2.

  Frying the base with garlic, preparing the cheese, parsley and chili pepper

  • Extra Virgin olive oil - 70gr
  • Suited Garlic - 4 cloves
  • Parsley sprigs - 35gr
  • Pecorino Romano cheese - 80gr
  • Fresh Chili Pepper - 1 large (or to taste)
  in alternative, you can use dry chili pepper

  Thoroughly wash the parsley and dry it gently with a kitchen cloth. Separate the leaves from the stalks and make a small bouquet garni with these using some cooking string (step 2 - pic. A).
  Put the parley stalks into the frying pan with the garlic and slightly increase the heat to a medium power (step 2 - pic. B).
  Grate the Pecorino Romano cheese, then finely mince the parsley leaves and set aside (step 2 - pic. C).
  Then, halve the chili pepper longwise and scrape off the inner seeds using a paring knife. Finely dice it’s meat with a chef knife and set aside (step 2 - pic. D).
  

• 3.

  Putting the pasta to boil

  • Salt - 50gr
  • The boiling water
  • Penne - 360gr

  When the water has come to a stable boil, season it with 50gr of salt (step 3 - pic. A). The water will react increasing the boiling rapidly for a few seconds. When this has finished, drop in the pasta (step 3 - pic. B). Stir the pasta frequently during the first few minutes to prevent the pieces stick to each other.
  The pasta will have to be strained half a minute before being properly done “al dente”.
  

  Note about salt and water for pasta

  If you think you might forget to salt water before adding pasta, you can salt water right after putting it on heat. This can become a safe routine, but the commonly unknown result of this is that it will require a longer time to come to the boiling temperature of 100ºC. It would be better instead to wait for the boiling to start and then carefully add the salt. The addiction of salt at this stage causes a sudden increase of the temperature of the solution for a couple of seconds during which the water increases the bubbling and risks to pour out if the pan’s sides are not sufficiently high.

  So the right pan should be taller than its diameter and capacious enough to contain a good amount of water.

  The minimum ratio between water and pasta is 1lt every 100gr. Although, for small amount of pasta it’s better to use a fairly large and deep pan which will keep the water to temperature also after dropping the pasta in. So that’s why I prefer to use 5lt of water even just to cook a single portion of pasta.

  Another important detail of which to take care, is the right quantity of salt to add to the water. It depends on the quantity of salt the condiment for pasta is going to contain and the cooking time that pasta requires; not only on your personal taste.

  A normal dose of salt is 11-12gr per litre of water and it can be increased to a maximum of 14-15gr for those who like their food to be particularly savoury. When using ingredients which are already salty themselves, like bacon or ham, the dose can be lowered to a minimum of 9-10gr per litre of water, as well as when you know that you will bind pasta with a lot of its own cooking water.

  Keep also in mind that longer cooking time require smaller doses of salt whereas quicker cooking will need a larger dose.

• 4.

  Making the fresh peeled tomatoes sauce

  • The frying base with garlic and parsley stalks
  • The chopped peeled plum tomatoes
  • Salt - 2gr
  • The chopped chili pepper
  in alternative, you can use dry chili pepper

  Increase the heat under the frying pan and put it to a high power. Add the chopped peeled plum tomatoes and stir evenly with the flavoured extra virgin olive oil and season with 2gr of salt (step 4 - pic. A).
  After a couple of minutes, when the sauce starts reducing, add the chopped chili pepper and stir evenly (step 4 - pic. B).
  Then, take out the parley stalks and the garlic cloves (step 4 - pic. C).
  

• 5.

  Straining the penne and binding them to the sauce

  • The boiled pasta
  • The frying sauce in the pan
  • The minced parsley
  • The grated Pecorino Romano cheese
  • Half a ladle of cooking liquor (if needed)

  One minute before the penne get properly cooked “al dente”, strain them directly into the frying pan with the sauce. Alternatively, collect come cooking liquor into a jug and drain the pasta with a strainer. do not let them dry out completely. If needed, add half a ladle of cooking water to the frying pan and stir evenly over the maximum heat possible (step 5 - pic. A).
  When the sauce has reduced again and has coated the penne, take the pan away from the heat and add the grated cheese and the minced parsley (step 5 - pic. B).
  Stir evenly and let it rest a couple of minutes before serving (step 5 - pic. C).
  

  Note about the correct cooking point "al dente”
  

  “Al dente” literally means “to the tooth”. It indicates the perfect consistency that pasta, or any other food, should have at the end of the cooking process: not too soft and not too hard at chewing. Pasta cooked “al dente” maintains a harder consistency at the centre of the dough sheet which gives the diners a pleasant feeling of “biting” rather than “mushing” something under their teeth..

• Servings : 4
• Ready in : 25
• Course : Starter
• Recipe Type : Classic Italian dish, Dry pasta recipes, Pasta, Vegan, Vegetarian
• Ingredient : Chili Pepper, Dry Pasta, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Parsley, Pasta, Pecorino Romano Cheese, Peeled Plum Tomatoes, Penne, Plum Tomatoes, Salt, Tomato