Arrabbiata Sauce

I am weird different. If everyone looks for an easy way to do something, I try to do everything by myself. That definitely keeps me busy. Take yesterday for example: I went to the dollar store near my work place during lunch time to get Halloween loot bags. They were out of them and I needed to send the bags this friday. I could've driven another 20 - 30 minutes to go to another store to check out if they had them. Did I do that? No. I decided to give my brain and my hands some work. I printed a ghost on the plain paper and made envelopes myself.

In fancy words, this is being 'creative'. In plain words, it is being 'crazy' I know. I made totally 40 envelopes. I did make my kids hand me over the stuff and this kept them busy. But, a normal person would've spent that time driving and getting the pre made stuff instead of spending 1 hour (almost) doing this by hand.

Same thing comes to buying pasta sauce. I do not like to buy them. I make them. Are they cost effective when you make them? I don't think so. I jar of organic Arrabbiata suace costs about 2.97 in Trader Joe's. I probably spent more than that for just tomatoes. But the taste - is awesome.

For those who do not know about this sauce, it is one of the spicy pasta sauces that are available. Because they have heat, they are very much liked by Asian Indians. Recipe is adapted from here.

Ingredients:
Tomatoes - 9 medium skin peeled off and chopped fine (about scant 2 pounds) Blanch them to remove the skin
Olive Oil - 1 tsp
Garlic - 4 pods minced or very finely chopped
Red Onions - 1 large chopped fine (You could use yellow onion)
Basil leaves - about 10 chopped fine
Red Chilli flakes - 1 TBSP (or to taste)
Black Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Red wine or cooking wine - 1/4 cup
Salt - to taste
Cayanne pepper - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 TBSP
Italian Seasonings - 1 tsp

Method:
In a sauce pan, heat olive oil. When hot, add garlic, onion. Sprinkle some salt and let them wilt for about 5 minutes. When they are cooked, add the chopped tomatoes. You could use 2 cans of diced tomatoes (14.5 Oz each). Add wine, sugar and let it simmer. Add chopped basil leaves and continue to cook till most of the water has evaporated. Add red chilli flakes, cayanne pepper, black pepper powder. Take italian seasoning in your hand and rub them and add to the pot. Mix all well and simmer for few minutes. Adjust the seasonings if required and turn off the heat. Use it in your favorite pasta recipe.

Notes:
If you eat cheese, you could add grated parmesan to the sauce or when you make the pasta. This tastes great as a bruschetta topping too.

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