The Art of Pasta Making: A Guide to Creating Delicious Aragosta Sauce

As we begin our journey through the world of pasta making, it's essential to understand that the sauce is an integral part of the dish. In this article, we'll delve into the world of arabiata sauce, a classic Italian recipe that requires precision and patience. Our guide will walk you through the process of creating a rich and flavorful sauce, inspired by Missy Robbins' renowned pasta restaurant in New York.

The Foundation of the Sauce: Fresh Tomatoes and Garlic

To start, we need to create the foundation of our sauce - fresh tomatoes and garlic. We'll be using 24 cloves of garlic, which may seem excessive, but trust us, it's essential for achieving that perfect balance of flavors. To chop the garlic, we'll use a sharp knife and aim for roughly chopped pieces, rather than pureed or minced. The goal is to release the natural oils and essence of the garlic without overpowering the other ingredients.

Next, we'll add a generous amount of fresh tomatoes, which will provide the acidity and brightness needed to balance out the richness of the sauce. We'll also be using a third of a cup of red wine, an Italian Chianti to be specific, to enhance the flavor profile and add depth to our sauce. The addition of salt, pepper, and fennel seeds will round out the flavors, creating a harmonious balance that showcases each ingredient.

The Cooking Process: Simmering and Reducing

Now that we've prepared the ingredients, it's time to bring everything together. We'll combine the garlic, tomatoes, red wine, and spices in a large pot and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, we'll reduce the heat and let the sauce simmer for 30 minutes, allowing the flavors to meld together and intensify. This process is crucial in developing the complexity of our aragosta sauce.

The Addition of Fresh Basil: A Final Touch

As our sauce simmers, we can prepare a garnish of fresh basil, which will add a pop of color and freshness to our dish. We'll chop the basil leaves finely and sprinkle them over the pasta just before serving. This final touch will tie everything together, creating a cohesive and visually appealing presentation.

Cooking the Pasta: A Matter of Perfection

While our sauce is simmering, we can cook our pasta to perfection. We'll use penne as our shape, and cook it al dente, which means slightly undercooked to ensure maximum texture retention. Once cooked, we'll drain the pasta using a wire strainer, allowing us to catch any excess water. This step is crucial in achieving that perfect balance between sauce and pasta.

The Final Assembly: A Symphony of Flavors

Now that our pasta and sauce are ready, it's time to bring them together. We'll add the cooked pasta to the sauce pot, tossing everything together until the pasta is well coated. As we stir, the starch from the pasta will thicken the sauce, creating a silky texture that complements the flavors perfectly.

The Result: A Delicious Pasta Dish

Our aragosta sauce, infused with 24 cloves of garlic and a blend of fresh tomatoes and spices, has transformed our dish into a culinary masterpiece. The combination of flavors and textures creates a harmonious balance that is both comforting and exciting. As we take our first bite, the pasta absorbs the flavors, releasing a burst of acidity and freshness. It's clear that this recipe is more than just a sauce - it's an experience.

For More Pasta Recipes, Visit Bear Contessa

If you're inspired to try your hand at creating delicious pasta dishes like aragosta sauce, be sure to check out our website for more recipes and cooking tips. Our extensive collection of pasta recipes will guide you through the world of Italian cuisine, from classic sauces to creative twists on traditional dishes. With practice and patience, you'll become a master pasta maker, ready to impress your friends and family with your culinary skills.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enpenne arabiata there are three things i love about this dish it's elegant it's earthy and you can make it ahead i mean what's not to love about that i'm making penne arabiata rubiata sauce is really kind of a classic italian pasta sauce made with tomatoes mine has an unbelievable amount of garlic in it which i'm going to cook very slowly in olive oil it's going to be really sweet and delicious so nobody wants to peel 24 cloves of garlic so what i do is i blanch them in a pot of boiling water just for about 15 seconds and then you'll see the skins just slip right off just like that okay so that's a cup so i've got two thirds of a cup of olive oil that i've got warmed i'm gonna put the garlic in and just cook it for about 10 minutes just until the outside is like just barely browned and the inside's really tender okay we'll let that cook for about 10 minutes okay next is the tomatoes so i've got two 28 ounce cans of san marzano tomatoes i think san marzano are the best quality canned tomatoes and i've got whole tomatoes i'm gonna put them in the food processor and just chop them up i'm just putting in the food processor so i can control the consistency of the tomatoes and i'm draining them because i don't want the sauce to be watery nobody wants watery sauce okay i can make bloody mary's out of the rest okay get them in good and then i'm just gonna chop them up just like that you don't want to puree you just want them roughly chopped okay i think the garlic is just about ready and i'll show you what i was looking for these are great i wish you could smell it nicely browned on the outside and perfectly cooked through okay i'm gonna take the garlic and put it right into the tomatoes and then i'm gonna chop that up and then cook it all together with some fennel this recipe actually is inspired by missy robbins who has the most incredible pasta restaurant in new york called missy it's in brooklyn and she makes her a raviota sauce with 24 cloves of garlic and it's so good and then i'm just going to chop that up so you get bits of garlic in the sauce and then this whole thing goes right back into the oil try and do it without getting it all over yourself so this is going back on the stove turn on the heat and i'm going to take two teaspoons of fennel seeds you can do it in a mortar and pestle but i think this is actually better to grind them yourself what i do is just chop them up and they're going to bounce all over the place but it's really worth it and i think what you do is you get a lot of the oils out of the fennel seeds just give it a rough chop like that they're going to get tenderized when the sauce cooks i actually prefer using whole fennel seed rather than ground ground kind of loses its flavor when you chop up whole fennel seed you get all of those essential oils in it and fennel has this like anise flavor that's just great particularly with tomatoes okay right into the sauce right there one teaspoon of hot red pepper flakes okay next is a third of a cup of red wine i'm using an italian wine of course since it's an italian dish i'm using a chianti you want something very dry and kind of rough two-thirds of a cup just pour it right in yum tablespoon salt make sure it's really well seasoned teaspoon of pepper i'm always looking for how flavors complement each other how the tomatoes make the red wine taste better how the red wine makes the fennel taste better this is going to do exactly that the garlic flavor is everything so i'm just going to bring it to a boil and then lower the heat and let it simmer for 30 minutes i'm almost done with the arabiata sauce i'm just going to add some fresh basil to it gives it a nice fresh kind of peppery flavor okay about a quarter of a cup right into the sauce so i've got a big pot of boiling water salt and one pound of penne and i'm cooking it to about two minutes less than it requires for al dente and that's because i'm gonna cook it in the sauce so let's see how it's doing okay great it's perfect with a wire strainer just put it right into the pasta sauce and that way all of the pasta sauce gets absorbed into the pasta and it really flavors it very often what we do is we serve pasta and then we put the sauce on top and it just kind of sits on the top but this way it cooks into it and a little bit of the starch from the pasta really thickens the sauce so the two elements really work together so that's all the pasta just give it a big stir i'm just going to cook this all together oh man overboard it's going to cook together for two minutes the pasta will be perfectly cooked and the sauce will be just really silken and delicious i can really smell the garlic but it's like soft not sharp in the meantime while that cooks i'm going to julienne a little more basil for garnish i love pastas because you can make the sauce in advance just cook the pasta cook it together and you've got a fabulous dinner big salad i'm a happy camper okay so clear the decks need a big bowl and the pasta should be done this looks gorgeous and you can really tell that the tomato sauce has gotten into the pasta who wouldn't want to have this for dinner a little fresh basil on top and lots of freshly grated parmesan actually i call it grated parmesan but it's really ground i grind it in a food processor just because i like that kind of grainy texture of it a fork this is the kind of dinner anybody in the family would love it's just not your ordinary tomato sauce this is pasta arabiata with 24 cloves of garlic it smells amazing mmm and it tastes so good this recipe and more can be found at bearcontessa.com youpenne arabiata there are three things i love about this dish it's elegant it's earthy and you can make it ahead i mean what's not to love about that i'm making penne arabiata rubiata sauce is really kind of a classic italian pasta sauce made with tomatoes mine has an unbelievable amount of garlic in it which i'm going to cook very slowly in olive oil it's going to be really sweet and delicious so nobody wants to peel 24 cloves of garlic so what i do is i blanch them in a pot of boiling water just for about 15 seconds and then you'll see the skins just slip right off just like that okay so that's a cup so i've got two thirds of a cup of olive oil that i've got warmed i'm gonna put the garlic in and just cook it for about 10 minutes just until the outside is like just barely browned and the inside's really tender okay we'll let that cook for about 10 minutes okay next is the tomatoes so i've got two 28 ounce cans of san marzano tomatoes i think san marzano are the best quality canned tomatoes and i've got whole tomatoes i'm gonna put them in the food processor and just chop them up i'm just putting in the food processor so i can control the consistency of the tomatoes and i'm draining them because i don't want the sauce to be watery nobody wants watery sauce okay i can make bloody mary's out of the rest okay get them in good and then i'm just gonna chop them up just like that you don't want to puree you just want them roughly chopped okay i think the garlic is just about ready and i'll show you what i was looking for these are great i wish you could smell it nicely browned on the outside and perfectly cooked through okay i'm gonna take the garlic and put it right into the tomatoes and then i'm gonna chop that up and then cook it all together with some fennel this recipe actually is inspired by missy robbins who has the most incredible pasta restaurant in new york called missy it's in brooklyn and she makes her a raviota sauce with 24 cloves of garlic and it's so good and then i'm just going to chop that up so you get bits of garlic in the sauce and then this whole thing goes right back into the oil try and do it without getting it all over yourself so this is going back on the stove turn on the heat and i'm going to take two teaspoons of fennel seeds you can do it in a mortar and pestle but i think this is actually better to grind them yourself what i do is just chop them up and they're going to bounce all over the place but it's really worth it and i think what you do is you get a lot of the oils out of the fennel seeds just give it a rough chop like that they're going to get tenderized when the sauce cooks i actually prefer using whole fennel seed rather than ground ground kind of loses its flavor when you chop up whole fennel seed you get all of those essential oils in it and fennel has this like anise flavor that's just great particularly with tomatoes okay right into the sauce right there one teaspoon of hot red pepper flakes okay next is a third of a cup of red wine i'm using an italian wine of course since it's an italian dish i'm using a chianti you want something very dry and kind of rough two-thirds of a cup just pour it right in yum tablespoon salt make sure it's really well seasoned teaspoon of pepper i'm always looking for how flavors complement each other how the tomatoes make the red wine taste better how the red wine makes the fennel taste better this is going to do exactly that the garlic flavor is everything so i'm just going to bring it to a boil and then lower the heat and let it simmer for 30 minutes i'm almost done with the arabiata sauce i'm just going to add some fresh basil to it gives it a nice fresh kind of peppery flavor okay about a quarter of a cup right into the sauce so i've got a big pot of boiling water salt and one pound of penne and i'm cooking it to about two minutes less than it requires for al dente and that's because i'm gonna cook it in the sauce so let's see how it's doing okay great it's perfect with a wire strainer just put it right into the pasta sauce and that way all of the pasta sauce gets absorbed into the pasta and it really flavors it very often what we do is we serve pasta and then we put the sauce on top and it just kind of sits on the top but this way it cooks into it and a little bit of the starch from the pasta really thickens the sauce so the two elements really work together so that's all the pasta just give it a big stir i'm just going to cook this all together oh man overboard it's going to cook together for two minutes the pasta will be perfectly cooked and the sauce will be just really silken and delicious i can really smell the garlic but it's like soft not sharp in the meantime while that cooks i'm going to julienne a little more basil for garnish i love pastas because you can make the sauce in advance just cook the pasta cook it together and you've got a fabulous dinner big salad i'm a happy camper okay so clear the decks need a big bowl and the pasta should be done this looks gorgeous and you can really tell that the tomato sauce has gotten into the pasta who wouldn't want to have this for dinner a little fresh basil on top and lots of freshly grated parmesan actually i call it grated parmesan but it's really ground i grind it in a food processor just because i like that kind of grainy texture of it a fork this is the kind of dinner anybody in the family would love it's just not your ordinary tomato sauce this is pasta arabiata with 24 cloves of garlic it smells amazing mmm and it tastes so good this recipe and more can be found at bearcontessa.com you\n"