Ingredients:
☐ 1 tbs Olive Oil
☐ 1 lg Onion, diced
☐ 1 Red Capsicum, diced
☐ 3-4 cloves Garlic
☐ ½-1 tsp Chilli Flakes (depending how spicy you like it!)
☐ 1 x 800g can Diced Tomatoes (or 1 x 700ml Passata – for a smoother sauce)
☐ 2 Bay Leaves
☐ A pinch of Sugar
☐ 250g Pasta (see note 1)
☐ Salt & Pepper to taste
☐ Grated Parmesan to serve
☐ Fresh Basil Leaves
Method:
- Heat oil in a pan or pot to a medium heat, fry off onions and capsicum until softened, about 8 mins, then add garlic and chilli flakes for a minute to infuse these flavours. Leave the chilli flakes out for a milder, marinara sauce. Keep stirring so they don’t colour, and you can smell the aromas.
- Add diced tomatoes, bay leaf and sugar, bring to a simmer. Turn down the heat to low and cover with a lid then leave to simmer for about 1 hour until sauce thickens and flavours have concentrated, stirring about 5 or 6 times through the simmering process.
- While you are waiting for your sauce, cook your pasta according to the instructions on the pack for al dente pasta. (See note 2)
- Once cooked, strain, but keep 1 cup of the pasta cooking water. Add the pasta to your arrabbiata sauce and toss it through. If you need to thicken the sauce add some of the reserved pasta water.
- Serve topped with parmesan and whole and/or chopped basil leaves.
Notes:
1. Penne is the traditional pasta for this dish, but this sauce is great with any cooked pasta, short or long. I particularly like it with Tagliatelle Egg Pasta nests. Generally, a meaty sauce goes best with robust pasta.
2. To keep the GI value low, cook your pasta to ‘al dente (still slightly firm) – which means that the body digests it slower than most other carbohydrates and helps keep you satiated. Read our article on The Benefits of Low GI Carbohydrates.
3. The starch from the pasta cooking water is great to thicken the sauce, use as much as you require. I usually keep about a cup, and end up using about ½ a cup. You can throw it away if you don’t need if, but you can’t get it back after it’s gone!
4. I often add a large handful of Spinach or whatever is left in the fridge and needs to be used. See our article Fruit & Vegetables – To Cook or not to Cook, that is the question….. also gives added positive benefits.