A Taste of Italy – Penne Arribbiata

Within a month of Dennis and I getting married, we were on our way to Southern Italy for three years. It was Dennis’ last duty station in the Air Force. It was an interesting assignment in many ways. There were lots of visitors to his unit that needed to be entertained and provided dinner. So we ‘had’ to eat dinner out 4-6 times a week. Oh my! One of Dennis’ favorite dishes was Penne Arribbiata (‘angry’ sauce). I didn’t get the recipe while we were in Italy, but scoured my cookbooks once we were home. After several recipes and many, many tries – I finally had one that Dennis liked. I know I have made a good batch when after about the fourth bite – sweat starts popping out on his forehead. I have made batches that are too hot and some not hot enough. The peppers make all the difference – early in the season they are milder than late. After the growing season is over and they have been sitting a cooler somewhere waiting to be sold – watch out they will be spicy!

Many recipes from the Internet, cookbooks, and restaurants do not use the bacon as a meat. The restaurant where Dennis fell in love with the sauce served it this way. The chef also used real peppers, not red pepper flakes. I think it was these two items were the missing pieces in the early trials of re-creating this dish.