My brother started me off on this. He likes the 'penne picante' served up as a starter in many British Italian restaurants but reckons it's always far too expensive for what it is, so he started making it at home. I've never been to an Italian restaurant in Britain, so I don't know what their penne picante is like, but my brother's is good.
He uses pre-prepared, boiled and sieved tomatoes and garlic powder. Being a busy working father, the convenience suits him. I, on the other hand, being a bit of a dosser, usually have plenty of time to use fresh ingredients and little choice in the matter as the nearest place that sells sieved tomatoes in a jar is often hundreds of miles away. Either way, it doesn't take long to do this. I'll give you the 'fresh ingredients' method here. Figure the other one out for yourself if you want to do it that way.
I'll give you a clue as to how many people this will serve - you need about 80 - 120g of pasta per person depending on how hungry they are.
Ingredients
2 or 3 large tomatoes
4 or 5 large cloves of garlic
2 or 3 fresh red chilli peppers OR
1 level tsp. crushed red chillies
Salt
Olive oil for frying
250-350 g of penne pasta
Put a pan of water on to boil for the pasta - by the time it's boiled you will have prepared everything for cooking.
Chop the tomatoes finely and the chillies even finelier if you're using fresh ones. Do the garlic when the oil is ready for frying otherwise the chopping board will soak up all the yummy garlic oil while you wait.
When the water is boiling throw in the pasta and a splash of oil (salt too, if you want). Give it a gentle stir to separate the pieces. Pour a liberal amount of olive oil into a frying pan and turn the heat up. Now you can do the garlic. For this recipe I usually smash the cloves with the flat of a knife blade first, then give the cloves a rough chop with the knife. If the skin comes off at this stage, okay. If it doesn't it goes into the pan. The oil should be hot by now so chuck in the garlic and chillies and let them sizzle a little. You want to get the garlic golden, but be careful not to burn it. After 30 seconds or so throw in the tomatoes and stir. That will take the temperature down. Add salt and cover the pan. Turn the heat down a bit. The sauce will be ready when the pasta is.
The pasta should take about 12 minutes or so. Don't let it go soggy. When it's ready, drain it in a sieve and return it to the pot. Mix in the sauce and you have 'penne picante'.