# Authentic Penne all’Arrabbiata



## Scotch (Mar 14, 2009)

I made _Penne all'Arrabbita_ for dinner tonight, following the recipe from Suzanne Dunaway's wonderful little cookbook, _Rome at Home._ This is authentic Italian food as one finds it in Rome -- simple, hearty, and delicious.

Dunaway writes that as made in Rome, this dish contains no meat, no wine, no bell peppers, no cream, "and for heaven's sake, do not serve it with Parmesan!" Indeed, she says even the parsley is a violation of her usual purist rule.

Dunaway's recipe refers to a sauce in another recipe, so I combined the two and reworked the directions to create this simplified version.

_*Penne all’Arrabbiata
*_“Angry Quills”

¼ to ½ cup olive oil
1 cup minced onion
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 pound penne
¼ cup minced Italian (flat-leaf) parsley (optional)

1. Heat olive oil in large sauce pan or medium skillet over medium-high heat.

2. Add minced onion and cook for two minutes.

3. Add crushed red pepper, minced garlic, and salt, and cook two minutes longer or until garlic is barely golden.

4. Add tomatoes and their juice to hot oil and stir.

5. Add sugar and stir well to mix.

6. Bring sauce to boil, then reduce heat to low to medium and continue cooking until the tomatoes begin to break down and sauce becomes thick and shiny, about 20 minutes.

7. In the meantime, cook pasta according to package directions.

8. Drain cooked pasta and add to sauce, tossing to coat well.

9. Sprinkle a little chopped parsley on each serving, if desired; note that this dish is not intended to be served with grated cheese.


----------



## LadyCook61 (Mar 14, 2009)

Certainly sounds simple enough, thanks for posting the recipe.


----------



## BreezyCooking (Mar 15, 2009)

Unfortunately, authentic or not, 1/2 a teaspoon of crushed red pepper isn't even remotely "angry" enough for me - lol! And I'll add a freshly-grated good aged parmesan to anything I please, thank you very much - lol!!! (And I'll also nix the sugar.)


----------



## Scotch (Mar 15, 2009)

It never ceases to amaze me that some people always seem to have have very specific criticisms of something they haven't even tried. This recipe is excellent as written.


----------

