I knew about pasta arrabiata long before I had ever tried pasta arrabiata. That was thanks to the excellent Eddie Izzard, and his now infamous Death Star Canteen sketch. Well worth checking out.
So what is pasta arrabiata, anyway"
Arrabiata itself is a sauce based on tomatoes, garlic and chilli peppers. The chilli peppers give it some real kick and that?s where the name comes from ? arrabiata here literally translates as angry.
Well, that doesn?t sound very nice.
Luckily, anger can be managed. While pasta arrabbiata really should have some chilli in there, it doesn?t have to be extreme. But it can be if that?s how you like it!
To control the level of spice, you have a couple of options.
Least spicy: throw a chilli pepper in the sauce while cooking and remove at the end. Middle spicy: deseed the chilli pepper and chop the rest into pieces. Add it to the sauce.
Most spicy: Chop the chilli pepper, seeds and all, and add it to the sauce.
Of course, chilli peppers themselves come in a range from mild to spicy, so you have a range of options there, too. Here?s a rough guide and explanation to the scale.

Aubergine Arrabiata" Eggplant to some.
To make our pasta arrabbiata stand out, Kat added aubergine (eggplant). Not only does it taste great and fill us up more, it comes packed with nutrients. In fact, the humble aubergine is quite the underrated vegetable ? research shows that the aubergine can help protect the brain, heart and help prevent cellular damage.
As if th...