Fusilli all' Arrabbiata

This pasta dish was made to lift up Manasi dampened spirits. There have been 7 snow days and 6 delayed openings and there is nothing much one can do when the driving conditions are completely unfavorable.So basically there has been very little or no action in my ,"senior at high school" girl's life lately. I knew a simple pasta dish and some brownies or muffins were exactly the treats she would look forward to :)

Boy !!! That worked more than I had imagined.She loved this pasta dish and could not stop raving about all the flavors,and she did well at pointing out most. I was impressed with her knowledge of identifying different flavors despite the fact that she is a complete novice when it comes to cooking.

This is Mark Bittman's recipe and the recipe calls for penne rigate pasta,but I have made this with fusilli and elbow,remember it was snowing and I could not drive and this is all I had in the pantry. The taste was definitely all I had imagined and more. I was a little apprehensive about mixing bent tubes with fusilli but trust me-This dish looked and matched up to the original recipe in the picture:)

Notes: Penne is specifically used for the all' arrabbiata sauce,as the ridges on the penne pasta hold this sauce well .

Ingredients:
Garlic Cloves: 3 medium cloves divided
Olive Oil: 3 tbsp divided
Tomato Paste: 2 tbsp
Tomato's: 28 ounce can whole tomato's in juice,chopped
Bay leaf: 1
parsley: 1 tbsp chopped fresh or dried
basil: 1 tbsp chopped fresh or dried
Red pepper: crushed 1/2 tsp
White wine: 1/4 cup
salt: 1tsp or to taste
Pasta: 1 pound ,cooked according to package directions.
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese( optional)

Method:

1.Take a pan and heat 1 tbsp oil over medium heat and add 1 chopped garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
2.Add tomato paste to this and cook for 2 minutes,stirring in between. Add tomato's in juice and the bay leaf; simmer uncovered,for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile take the remaining 2 garlic cloves,slice these thinly.Take a small skillet and put this over medium heat.Add thinly sliced garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until just beginning to turn pale golden.
4.Add 1 tbsp parsley and 1 tbsp chopped basil and crushed red pepper,cook for 30 seconds.Add wine and cook for 30 seconds.Stir in the tomato mixture;add salt and simmer for 4-5 minutes.
5.Toss sauce with hot pasta in a large serving bowl. Drizzle with remaining 1 tbsp oil.Serve with Parmesan and garnish with parsley and basil if desired.

Manasi enjoyed pasta with a glass of milk and I had the  bottle of white wine already open as I had used 1/4 cup for the sauce. So we had a perfect pasta meal with a glass of sauvignon blanc :) and I served it on the plate and ate it by the fire place :)