Sugo all’arrabbiata. The angriest sauce in all of Italian cuisine. It might not be as angry as your nonna when you don’t listen to her, but it can pack quite a punch. Hailing from the Lazio region (think Rome) of Italia, like my ancestors, you’d think that it’d be blasphemy for me to even consider altering the thousand-year old recipe, but… I can’t help myself.
You see, this is a simple sauce that doesn’t quite hit the spice level of fra diavolo, but compared to commercial Italian pasta sauces in American grocery stores, it’ll make your nose run a bit. Typically, its made from striking the perfect balance of tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and red chiles (most use red chili flake), but we’re really going off the walls here and using a much different source of heat.
No, we’re not talking about Calabrian chili oil; we wouldn’t dare use ingredients from Southern Italia. We’d rather take a near 7,000 mile plane from Rome to Jakarta, to pick up some SAMBAL! I hope we haven’t lost you, yet, because this is about to get tasty.
