Penne Arrabbiata

This recipe is from Vegan Fire and Spice, we added a fresh jalapeno, a small can of diced tomatoes, doubled all the herbs and about 1/2 teaspoon of thyme.  We topped with some vegan parmesan and served alongside a yummy mixed veggie salad.

Allie: I LOVE PASTA.  I could eat it for every meal forever.  I wanted to increase the amount of servings in this recipe, so I added extra pasta and sauce ingredients.  It was almost embarrassingly easy to make and the ingredients cost pennies.  Besides chopping garlic and hot pepper, the only other tasks were to simmer the sauce and boil pasta. It came out awesome!  The spice level was perfect.  I simmered it longer than the 15 minutes advised because I happened to have plenty of time and I think it really developed the flavors.  Recently when I make salad I've been dressing it with a dash of sesame oil and soy sauce, and the resulting veggies added a fresh, light note to the meal.  We shared some with Brian's band after practice and it was a hit.  I rate this 5 out of 5 slices.  Next time I'll try adding something, like meatballs or maybe using fresh pasta.  I may never buy a jar of sauce again!  I know it was good because Brian actually brought the leftovers to work for once, even though I was totally planning to sneak into his house and eat the crap out of them.  Foiled again!

mettere questo in faccia!

Brian: I am not proud of this fact, but pasta is the only thing I have ever eaten so much of I actually threw up (why wasn't it pizza?)  I mention this to say that Allie's first sentence goes double for me. It is so easy to make (I'll have to take Allie's word on this since, once again, I didn't have to to doodly squat) and delicious that I can't believe all Italians don't just lay around clutching their stomachs and rolling to wherever they need to go. Maybe not being americans means they are less inclined to do things like eat until they are literally sick? Who knows! This pasta dish was no exception, it was spicy and simple and incredibly delicious. It would be very good with some sort of meatball, tempeh, tempeh meatball etc in it but on its own it help up to other incredible meals we have had lately. The accompanying salad was made from leftover sushi ingredients mixed with a little oil and was honestly just as good as the main pasta dish. Having it for leftovers today, with a little more time to marinate in the sesame oil and soy sauce, it was even better.  A 5 out of 5 to be sure, and I look forward to variations on the sauce we could make in the future, and the resulting leftovers Allie won't be able to have any of.