The Barefoot Contessa's Penne Arrabiata _ Barefoot Contessa - Cook Like a Pro _ Food Network

I'm making a , a sauce is really kind of a classic Italian pasta sauce made with tomatoes .

Mine has an unbelievable amount of garlic in it , which I'm gonna cook very slowly in olive oil .

It's gonna be really sweet and delicious .

So nobody wants to peel 24 cloves of garlic .

So , what I do is I blanch them in a pot of boiling water just for about 15 seconds and then you'll see the skins just slip right off just like that .

OK ?

So that's a cup .

So I've got two thirds of a cup of olive oil that I've got warmed .

I'm gonna put the garlic in and just cook it for about 10 minutes just until the outside is like just barely brown and the inside is really tender .

So I've got 2 28 ounce cans of San Marzano tomatoes .

I think San Marzano are the best quality canned tomatoes .

And I've got whole tomatoes .

I'm gonna put them in the food processor and just chop them up .

I'm just putting the food processor so I can control the consistency of the tomatoes and I'm draining them because I don't want the sauce to be watery .

Nobody wants watery sauce .

Ok ?

Can make bloody mary out of the rest .

OK ?

Get them in good .

And then I'm just gonna chop them up just like that .

You don't want a pure , you just want them roughly chopped .

OK .

I'm gonna take the garlic and put it right into the tomatoes and then I'm gonna chop that up and then cook it all together .

This recipe actually is inspired by Missy Robbins who has the most incredible pasta restaurant in New York called Missy .

It's in Brooklyn and she makes her a sauce with 24 cloves of garlic and it's so good .

And then I'm just gonna chop that up .

So you get bits of garlic in the sauce and then this whole thing goes right back into the oil , try and do it without getting it all over yourself .

So this is going back on the stove , turn on the heat and I'm gonna take two teaspoons of fennel seeds .

You can do it in a mortar and peso .

But I think this is actually better to grind them yourself .

What I do is just chop them up and they're gonna bounce all over the place , but it's really worth it .

And I think what you do is you get a lot of the oils out of the fennel seeds , just give it a rough chop like that .

They're gonna get tender .

I , when the sauce cooks .

Ok , right into the sauce right there .

One teaspoon of hot red pepper flakes .

Ok .

Next is a third of a cup of red wine .

Yeah , tablespoon of salt .

Make sure it's really well seasoned teaspoon of pepper .

I'm always looking for our flavors .

Compliment each other .

How the tomatoes make the red wine taste better ?

How the red wine makes the fennel taste better ?

This is gonna do exactly that .

The garlic flavors everything .

So I'm just gonna bring it to a boil and then lower the heat and let it simmer for 30 minutes .

I'm almost done with the Arabia sauce .

Just gonna add some fresh basil to it gives it a nice fresh kind of peppery flavor .

OK ?

About a quarter of a cup right into the sauce .

So I've got a big pot of boiling water , salt and £1 of .

And I'm cooking it to about two minutes less than it requires for Al Dente .

And that's because I'm gonna cook it in the sauce .

OK ?

Pasta should be done or at least two minutes less than done .

And I'm just gonna with a wire strainer , just put it right into the pasta sauce .

And that way all of the pasta sauce gets absorbed into the pasta and it really flavors it very often .

What we do is we serve pasta and then we put the sauce on top and it just kind of sits on the top , but this way it cooks into it and a little bit of the starch from the pasta really thickens the sauce .

So the two elements really work together and I'm gonna save the pasta water if I need a little extra water .

So that's all the pasta .

Just give it a big stir and I'm gonna cook this for about two minutes and you know what it does need a little water .

So I have a label .

It's always surprising to me , Missy taught me how much water to put into a sauce , which is incredibly surprising .

You think you're going to water it down .

And in fact , it does just the opposite .

I'm just gonna cook this all together .

Oh , man , overboard .

It's gonna cook together for two minutes .

The pasta will be perfectly cooked and the sauce will be just really silken and delicious .

Can really smell the garlic , but it's like soft , not sharp .

In the meantime , while that cooks I'm gonna in a little more basil for garnish .

I love pasta because you can make the sauce in advance .

Just cook the pasta , cook it together .

And you've got a fabulous dinner .

Big salad .

I'm a happy camper .

Ok .

So clear the decks .

He had a big ball and the pasta should be done .

Oh , this looks gorgeous .

And you can really tell that the tomato sauce has gotten into the pasta .

Hm .

Who wouldn't wanna have this for dinner ?

Little fresh basil on top .

Some Parmesan cheese because of course , you can never have too much Parmesan a fork .

This is the kind of dinner anybody in the family would love .

It's just not your ordinary tomato sauce .

This is pasta Arabia with 24 cloves of garlic .

Hm .

And it tastes so good .