Penne arabiata: a recipe from sunny Italy

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

What lies behind the exquisite name "Penne arabiata"? In these words, an Italian accent is clearly heard. This is not surprising, because it is this sunny country that is the birthplace of the dish. As expected, the basis of the recipe is pasta.

In Italy, this dish is very popular. It is also on the menu of every self-respecting Mediterranean restaurant. But in order to taste this dish, it is not at all necessary to go to some expensive and fashionable place - you can cook it yourself. It is not so difficult, as we will see now.

Angry Pasta

The name of the dish comes from the Italian words arrabbiato and penne. The first translates as "angry", and the second denotes the name of the pasta from which the dish is prepared. In fact, it is made from a variety of types of pasta, but penne is the most common. So much so that they got a separate name. If you come across the name "Pasta arabiata" on the menu, you can be served shells, and spirals, and even spaghetti with a special sauce, while penne arabiata is always penne.

Why do Italians call this dish angry? Anyone who has managed to taste it understands that it's all about spiciness. For the same reason, we sometimes call especially spicy mustard evil. So it is with arabiata sauce, which is based on chili, garlic and aromatic spices.

What is penne?

Over hundreds of years of adoration for pasta, Italians have invented a huge number of all kinds, from the smallest to the largest. They also differ in form. The whole world adopted forms and recipes from the inhabitants of the Apennine Peninsula, but the original names in other languages are rare. Penne are very common and popular, but even their name, which is quite easy to remember and pronounce, is not so well known. For example, in Russian, the word “feathers” is most often used for this type of paste. Yes, yes, it is from them, so familiar, that the gourmet penne arabiata dish is prepared.

The recipe does not contain strict regulations regarding the shape, size and surface structure of the "feathers", you can take any. And, by the way, there are many varieties. Some of them have a smooth, some ribbed surface, some are quite large, others are smaller. And their color can be not only classic flour, but also green, red, yellow thanks to additives from spinach, tomatoes, yolks.

Essential Products

For the dish you will need the following:

• ripe juicy tomatoes;
• garlic;
• chili;
• parmesan cheese;
• spices.

Some add tomato paste to the sauce for thickening, greens. By the way, not all recipes are vegetarian. As with other Italian dishes, olive oil is used for this.

Cooking

How to cook penne arabiata? A recipe with a photo will help you understand the intricacies and convince you that it is not difficult at all.

Put the pasta to boil (350-400g). Give preference to products made from durum wheat.

Peel 400 grams of tomatoes, cut into pieces. Mince the garlic (2-3 cloves) and fry it in oil.

Add hot pepper rings (1 small pod) and then tomatoes. Stew for 4 minutes, s alt and add any spices, a handful of grated parmesan. Mix with pasta before serving.

By the way, the recipe of the dish is very conditional. You can change the proportions of products depending on your preferences.

New notes in the recipe

Pasta penne arabiata is often prepared with additional ingredients. You can add fried or stewed onions, bell peppers, spinach to the sauce. The whole world has heard about the love of Italians for cheeses, so experimenting with different varieties of cheese will not be bad manners at all. Olives will also harmoniously fit into the recipe - they can be used for decoration.

Penne arabiata with chicken

Traditionally, pasta is cooked without meat. But it is quite acceptable to add chicken, seafood, pork, veal to the sauce. In this case, the meat is cooked separately - first fried, thenadded to the sauce (at the stage of stewing tomatoes).

Both tender breast and fat thighs are excellent for this dish. For the above amount of products, calculated for 2 servings, you will need approximately 400 grams of chicken. It is common in Italian cuisine to use cut into small pieces of meat, so if you plan to use drumsticks or thighs, cut the fillets from the bones.

Fry the pieces in olive oil until al dente. Transfer to a plate, continue cooking in the same pan - this way the vegetables are better saturated with the flavors of the chicken. When the tomatoes are soft, return the chicken and simmer all the ingredients together. Don't forget the Parmesan!

Carefully washed boiled pasta send to the pan, mix, simmer for a couple of minutes. That's all - homemade penne arabiata with chicken is ready! It can be served at the table, garnished with greens. As drinks for the dish, you can offer tomato juice, lemonade, white wine.