Penne with Red Chile Sauce

This weekend, while hanging with my boys on our weekend getaway to Northern Arizona, I saw more ristras hanging on walls than I could count. Pardon me if you already know this, but a ristra is a strand of dried chile peppers. The original use of the ristra was to dry fresh peppers, but the actual strands are so gorgeous, they're often used for decoration, adorning walls in kitchens and restaurants all over New Mexico and Arizona (and other places for sure). To make this recipe, if you don't have a ristra handy, just grab some dried red chile peppers from your local grocery store.

Penne with Red Chile Sauce

12 ounces penne pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 dried red chile peppers, minced (remove the seeds if you want to take out some heat)
8 ounces tomato sauce (or more for a thinner consistency)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta according to the package directions, until just al dente (so it finishes cooking with the chile peppers).
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and chile pepper(s) and cook for 3 minutes, until both soften (we're not looking for color changes here, just softness). Add the tomato sauce and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 2 minutes. Add the cooked penne and cook 1 minute to heat through.
Remove from heat and fold in the parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

Serves 4



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