Yesterday D asked me to cook and after a lot of thought on what to make we decided that it should be pasta for dinner.

So I tried a Pasta Arabbiata (hope thats the right spelling)

You should normally use Penne Pasta (the tubed pasta). I forgot to mention that to D and I went off to play tennis and she decided to boil the pasta. So she used Conchiglioni and Farfalle. I found this lovely site on pasta shapes which gives u the entire list of all available pasta. I did not know so many existed before I went through this site.

http://www.food-info.net/uk/products/pasta/shapes.htm

1/2 packet of Conchiglioni and Farfalle (each)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
3 Cloves garlic
1 teaspoon sugar
Freshly ground black pepper to taste (I love loads of it)
Chilly flakes ( Depends on how spicy you want it. I used 4 red chillies- medium sized and seeds discarded)
1 medium onion finely chopped
1/3 cup Olive oil
Sea Salt to taste

Prepare the pasta as per instructions and keep it aside.

In a bowl, heat the oil and add the onions over low heat and keep stirring till the onions are translucent. Add the chopped garlic and keep stirring till the garlic is cooked but not burnt.
Add the freshly ground pepper, chilly flakes and the sugar at this stage.
After a few minutes add the canned tomato and salt and stir. When it comes to a boil, put off the flame. In a food processor grind this mixture and keep it aside.
Take half of this sauce in another pan and put it on a low flame. Add the pasta to it, so that all the pasta is coated.

My cooking is generally not the typical measured cooking. Its a whole lot on taste and gut feel. I keep tasting what I cook so that I get the right feel. Here I have written that you should take half of the ground mixture and add the pasta to it, but it depends on liking. I like my pasta to be fully coated in sauce. A lot of people don't like it that way. So its upto your taste actually.

For serving, top the pasta with some of the left over sauce with some grated parmesan cheese.

Bruschetta

I forgot to by the italian baguette, so I used normal bread slices for this. Ideally you should use a baguette.
4 slices of bread halved
2 medium tomatoes cut in to quarters
Few basil leaves - torn (not chopped)
Mozarella cheese (U can decide how much you want. I love mozarella, so I use loads. Ideally u can use 1 thick slice for each halved bread slice. Here we generally get mozarella which is oval in shape. So U can just slice it depending on desired thinness or thickness)
Pepper
1 clove garlic
Olive oil for brushing on the bread.

Brush the olive oil on the bread slices on either sides. Rub the garlic clove on the bread slices and put the bread in to the oven to be toasted to a golden colour. This takes around 5-7 minutes on each side. Remove it out and top each portion with tomato quarters and mozarella and basil. Put it back in to the oven for a few minutes till the cheese melts all over the tomato. Sprinkle some pepper before serving warm.

Yummy.....