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Arrabbiata Pasta

December 11th, 2011

Arrabbiata is Italian for angry, which sums up the delicious bite from the garlic and chili. The arrabbiata sauce has a wonderful tomato base with crispy bits of bacon, lots of onion, garlic, dried red chili pepper flakes and fresh basil. I tossed this with spaghetti, but it would be great with any type of pasta.

I made this for my sister-in-law Rachel, who was looking for a recipe. It was so good that Pete and I along with my parents devoured the entire pot for lunch.

I am posting this on a Sunday, hoping that this will be the perfect solution for tonight’s dinner. The entire dish takes 15 minutes or less to prepare which I figured would be very helpful at the end of a weekend that I am sure was totally busy prepping for the Holidays! It would be so delish with a fresh green salad and some wonderful crusty bread at the ready to sop up any leftover sauce.

Arrabbiata Pasta, serves 4-6
1 lb of pasta
4 strips of bacon
½ yellow onion, small diced
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
28oz diced tomato
1 ½ tsp red pepper flakes
½ cup fresh basil leaves, lightly packed
kosher salt to taste

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

While you are bringing the water to a boil, cook the bacon in a large sauté pan.

Add the pasta to the water and cook according to the manufacturers directions.

Cook the bacon until crispy. Remove the bacon and drain, then chop- reserve the bacon fat in the pan.

Add the onion to the bacon fat and cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes- then add the garlic. Sprinkle with salt and cook until soft and translucent- about 3 minutes.

Add the diced tomatoes and mix in well.

Add the red pepper flakes and basil and the chopped bacon.

Stir well and season with Kosher salt.

Drain the pasta when it is al dente and add the pasta to the sauce.

Serve hot!