Recipe video above. “Arrabbiata” means “angry” in Italian and refers to how the spiciness of this classic Italian pasta! I love how this simple dish is made interesting with a good kick of chilli.To be authentic, use whole peeled tomatoes and mash them up with a fork. For convenience, I use crushed tomatoes. SPICINESS - See Note 1.
Sauté - Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add garlic and stir for 10 seconds. Add cayenne and chilli flakes. Cook for 1 minute, or until garlic is light golden.
Add tomato, salt and pepper. Rinse out the tomato cans with the water and add into the pot.
Simmer - Turn up the heat to high, stir, then once it comes to a simmer, turn back down to medium heat and simmer for 15 minutes. (Taste check at 10 min – if sour, add the sugar.)
Cook pasta - Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to the boil with the 1 tablespoon of salt. Add pasta and cook per packet directions.
Save water – Just before draining, give the pot a big stir (to agitate the starch) then scoop out 1 cup of the water and set aside. (Note 4) Drain pasta.
Toss – Add pasta into the sauce along with 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water. Toss well (still on the stove) until the pasta is coated with the pasta sauce. Use extra pasta cooking water if needed, to loosen.
Serve - Divide between bowls and serve immediately with parmesan and parsley, if using.
Notes
1. SPICINESS – Has a fair kick to it, as it is supposed to! It’s between medium and medium-hot. Not blow-your-head-off. To reduce spiciness, de-seed the cayenne pepper (most spiciness is in the seeds) – this will reduce closer to medium. To reduce further/easy way to control, omit the cayenne pepper. Start with a small amount of chilli flakes then get the sauce simmering. At the 10 minute mark, taste and add more chilli flakes, bit by bit, until you hit your threshold!2. Cayenne peppers are large red chillis. They are not overly spicy – general rule is the smaller the chilli, the spicier they are. See above for spiciness note.3. Sugar – Not all canned tomatoes are created equal. The better the quality, the sweeter they are. :) Only use sugar if required.4. Reserving/using pasta cooking water - Essential pasta cooking step every Italian does instinctively for every pasta recipe! Starch in the pasta cooking water helps the sauce thicken and cling to the pasta instead of sitting in a watery pool in the bottom of your pasta bowl.5. Leftovers will keep for 3 to 4 days in the fridge.Nutrition per serving.