Arrabbiata always makes me think of summertime trips to Italy or France where this can be found on more menus than you can count. It’s like a simple tomato pasta, but with a punch of chilli heat that always seems so enticing in the warmest of weather. Traditional Arrabbiata doesn’t include any meat and to be honest, it’s lovely that way and sometimes my go-to when cooking for vegetarians because everyone loves it! However, I loved the idea of spaghetti & meatballs, but with a bit of a kick and this is just that. It’s delicious!
The beauty of this recipe is that you don’t need to do much to get flavourful meatballs. Sausages are already jam packed with flavour, so it’s really just about rolling them into balls and that’s about as much effort as is required.
The white wine in this recipe does two things. It deglazes the pan, which means that all the colouring from browning the sausage meatballs gets lifted off with the acidity of the wine and incorporated into the sauce. The wine also adds a bit of depth and richness to the flavours. Any dry white wine will work and it really does elevate this incredible pasta dish. Let’s get started!
Serves
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
- 500g passata
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 6 pork sausages
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- A glass of white wine
- 300g spaghetti
- Grated Parmesan cheese and torn fresh basil leaves to serve
Method
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large pan that has a lid. Add the garlic and chilli flakes and cook for about a minute or two, stirring with a wooden spoon until the garlic has softened and the chilli has given the oil a slightly orange-red tint.
- Pour in the passata and fill the container it comes in about 1/3 full with water. Slosh it around to catch the dregs of the passata and pour this in as well. Add the sugar and stir to combine. Bring this to a bubble and then reduce the heat to low, pop on the lid and leave it to simmer while you make the meatballs. Stir it occasionally and if it gets too dry at any point, just add a little bit of water.
- Pop a large pot of salted water with a drop of olive oil onto high heat for the pasta. Once it’s boiling, add the pasta and cook according to packet instructions, checking it 1 or 2 minutes before the end of the cooking time to ensure you get the consistency you like. When the pasta is done, reserve a cup of the pasta cooking water and strain it. Pop it back into the pot with the lid on to keep it warm.
- Now it’s time to make the meatballs. Use a sharp knife to slit the skins of the sausages lengthwise and peel them off to expose the meat inside. Break off pieces of the sausage meat and roll into meatballs – you should get about 4 or 5 meatballs per sausage.
- In a frying pan, heat the two tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and add the meatballs. Cook, stirring occasionally to brown them on all sides. Don’t be afraid to let them get a good amount of colour on them as this will only add more flavour to the dish.
- When the meatballs have been nicely browned all over, increase the heat to medium-high and slosh in the glass of white wine. Use a wooden spoon to scrape any bits of colour off the bottom of the pan which will move easily after being exposed to the acidity of the wine. Let this bubble away until it reduces to a thick, syrupy consistency and then scrape every last bit of this into the spicy tomato sauce. Stir to incorporate and pop the lid back on to keep it warm on low heat until you’re ready to serve.
- When you’re ready to serve, pour the sauce directly into the pasta pot, scraping every last bit into the pan. Toss to combine and add a little pasta water (no more than a tablespoon at a time) until the pasta is beautifully coated with the spicy red sauce. Pile the pasta with the meatballs onto a plate or pasta bowl and sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and torn fresh basil leaves to serve.
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