Serves 2
Ingredients:
- Store-bought Tomato purée (3 cups) (Scroll to the end for homemade tomato purée directions)
- Tomatoes (1)
- Garlic (6 cloves)
- Penne/Fusili (2 cups)
- Broccoli (1/2-1 cup chopped)
- Mushroom (1 cup chopped)
- Yellow bell pepper (1/2 cup chopped)
- Basil (6 leaves)
- Bay leaf (1)
- Cloves (3-4 small ones)
- Olive oil (2-3 tbsp)
- Fresh cream (not sour cream) (1 tbsp)
- Red wine (1 tbsp)
- Lemon Juice (1/2 tsp)
- Cheese (1/2-1 cup)
- Salt (to taste)
- Sugar (1/2 tsp)
- Freshly ground Chilli flakes (1/2-1 tsp) (Use readymade if homemade not available)
- Oregano (3/4 tsp)
- Freshly ground pepper (2 tsp)
Procedure:
- Take a saucepan, add water to it, with 1 tsp salt, and boil it. Once water is little heated, add the raw pasta to it (for around 25 mins)
- Let the pasta boil in hot water till it’s semi cooked – you can check this by poking a fork onto the pasta to check it’s stiffness – ideally it should be not too stiff and not too soft.
- Take the cloves of garlic and mince them into small pieces. Then take the Broccoli, wash it and cut it into small pieces. Take the yellow bell peppers and tomato and dice it into medium sized cubes.
- Take the mushrooms and wash them thoroughly. Boil them in salt water for 10 mins on medium-low flame. You can also boil the chopped Broccoli with the mushrooms if it is too hard.
- For freshly ground chilli flakes – take a few pieces of dried red chillies and grind it in a mortal pestle, to get the flakey texture.
- For freshly ground Pepper – Take few kernels of pepper, and powder it using a mortal pestle or grinder.
- Heat olive oil in a pan, and sauté the minced garlic in it with 1 tsp freshly ground pepper and freshly ground chilli flakes. Then add bay leaf to it after 5-10 minutes. Sauté the garlic again for a couple of minutes along with the bay leaf.
- Take 3-4 pieces of Cloves, and powder it using a mortal pestle or grinder.
- For Purée Mixture – In a bowl, pour in the tomato purée, add 1-1.5 tsp freshly ground pepper, oregano, 1/2 tsp squeezed lemon juice, powdered Clove to it and stir well.
- Add this Purée Mixture to the Pan and stir well with the sautéed garlic and bay leaf for 15 mins on medium flame.
- Now, drain out the water of the boiled mushrooms and broccoli.
- Add the mushrooms, broccoli, tomato and yellow bell peppers to the pan, and keep sauteeing with the purée. If the mix is a little dry, you can add 1 tbsp of Garlic Butter to the pan.
- Add 1 tbsp of Red Wine and keep stirring, as wine helps in bringing out the flavour of the sauce.
- Now drain out the water of the boiled pasta using a strainer, and transfer the pasta to the Pan.
- Add Fresh Cream, 2 tbsp grated cheese and Basil leaves to the mix, and sauté well.
- Cook well till the sauce is evenly distributed over the Pasta, and the cheese is cooked. You can regulate the amount of tomato purée to be added, according to how tangy/flavourful you want the Arrabiata to be, and according to how much of the tomato do you want to taste in the pasta.
- At the end, add salt to taste and a pinch of sugar (around 1/2 tsp) to the pan and toss the pasta and veggies well.
- Now, once its cooked, transfer the contents to a bowl, and garnish with basil leaves/celery leaves/oregano/grated cheese/powdered parmesan cheese.
Serve hot with a side of toasted garlic bread, meatballs or grilled chicken and a glass of Red Wine to gulp it down at the end!
Homemade Tomato Purée
- First, blanch 2-3 tomatoes. For blanching, take 2-3 large tomatoes and boil them in hot water on high flame for 10 minutes. Then take them out and keep them in ice cold water for 10 minutes. Now remove them from the water and peel them. (Blanching is done)
- Keep the peeled tomatoes in a blender, add 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp salt and a pinch of sugar to it. Blend everything. Avoiding using water for the mix and run the blender till you get a consistent liquid.
- Homemade Tomato Purée is ready.
