There are a variety of different pasta sauces that have come out of Italy. Most are products of the twentieth century with wealth being created by industrialisation and the knock-on effect to a burgeoning middle class. Restaurants and eateries exploded and started competing and striving for excellence, offering something more than the home kitchen table could offer as well as competing for their share of the Mercato.
Before the onset of refrigeration and the mass production of pasta through more recent technologies, most traditional sauces were either olive oil-based or tomato-based (tomato over the last five hundred years) and most people only ever ate at big Mama’s table.
One of my favourite sauces is the Arrabbiata sauce which comes from the Lazio region around Roma. Arrabbiata, which in Italian means “angry”, refers to the addition of hot chilli peppers to the tomato sauce. Arrabbiata is usually eaten with short pasta such as penne and is also the sauce for the dish ‘Chicken arrabbiata’.
Chicken arrabbiata is simple to make and consists of chicken breast marinated in olive oil and paprika or hot paprika, grilled, sliced then finished either in the pan tossed in the Arrabbiata sauce or, for a more controlled product, finished in the oven, left to sit for five minutes before slicing and then being tossed in the sauce. I usually serve it on a bed of farfalle pasta.
Pollo Arrabbiata. Photo credit The BFD.
“Angry” Chicken Arrabbiata (serves 2)
Ingredients:
- Clean fresh chicken breast x 1
- Italian tomato pulp x 1 can
- Half onion peeled and diced finely
- Small bunch of basil chopped
- Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar x 1
- Fresh jalapeño or hot chilli pepper x 1 ( if you don’t want to deal with fresh chilli peppers, dry chilli flakes will suffice)
- 3 garlic cloves peeled and crushed
- Olive oil
- Sweet paprika or hot paprika
- Granulated salt and pepper
Method:
One tablespoon of paprika or hot paprika (depending on how angry you want the chicken to be) and a shluk of olive oil, add a pinch of salt and pepper, mix and add the chicken breast, ensure the breast is well-coated, return to fridge for at least an hour.
On a hot griddle or grill cook the chicken for a minute or two on both sides, then cook in oven for 7-8 minutes at 200 Celsius. Remove to rest for at least five minutes before slicing.
Boil a pot of water. Add salt once boiled for the penne or farfalle pasta (both of which you can purchase dry at the supermarket; it ain’t worth the time and effort to try and make these fresh).
Before you start the sauce add the pasta to the water as per the instructions.
Heat a frypan on the gas top, add a small shluk of olive oil, add the onion and toss until it starts to clarify – about 2 minutes, add the garlic and chilli pepper (remember you can control the heat of the chilli pepper by removing its seeds, but if you want almost no chilli heat at all you can scrape out the internal flesh from the chilli. If you want the full five cents worth, namely an angry arrabbiata, you have to leave the heat in).
Add tomato pulp, chopped basil and balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, reduce for a minute. Add the sliced chicken breast and toss for a minute. When the pasta is ready pour the contents of the fry pan onto the cooked and ready pasta.
Garnish with fresh basil leaves.
Buon appetito
This sauce is great without the chicken, with both long and short pasta.
Shabbat Shalom.
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