I love pasta al'arrabbiata. The spiciness of red chili and of garlic
go so well with tomatoes!

But Tuesday night, I had no garlic. I did had some elephant garlic
left, though, so I thought I'd try something a little different.
Since elephant garlic is a bit sweeter and less piquant, I decided to
add some spices to play with this aspect of it. I'm extremely fond of
the combination of tomatoes and pink peppercorns, and I hoped their
sweetness/mild cardamom-like flavor would go well with the sweeter
garlic. To keep that from getting out of hand, I also used some more
bitter/medicinal spices, caraway and fenugreek. (This trio has a lot
of promise, and I'll need to try it in more dishes.)

1 clove elephant garlic, pressed or minced
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp green bell peppers, diced
2-3 oz wine (I used sangiovese)
2 cans unsalted diced tomatoes (I used muir glen organic)
veggie bouillon cube
red chili flakes to taste (I used about 3 arbol chilies, pinched into
flakes. I rubbed my eyes later, oops!)
1/4 tsp caraway seeds
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp pink peppercorns

Saute the elephant garlic in the olive oil.
Add the bell peppers and saute briefly.
Deglaze with a little wine, and reduce till almost gone.
Add the tomatoes, their liquid and the bouillon cube.
Add the red chili flakes.
Grind the spices, and add to the sauce.
Simmer, stirring and mashing occassionally, till it has a good thick
sauce consistency.


I had this over some shells (because they would hold a lot of sauce).
(Tonight, I'm planning on turning the leftover sauce into a
tomato/chickpea soup.)


Enjoy!
N.