linguine with chicken in an arrabiata sauce (i think)

ok, i suppose the title requires that i preface the recipe with some sort of explanation, so here it is : like some of you may have guessed, i have a nigella lawson fetish. i adore her cooking, cookbooks, cookware... and her website! i had been looking for a decent arrabiata sauce recipe a few years back and fell upon this one, submitted by a reader, on the nigella.com website. the"i think" bit is that i'm note quite sure it's really an authentic arrabiata sauce... i've been fiddling with it for a while and this is what comes out now... it does turn out quite hot, but you can adjust the quantities... 

serves 4 - 5 people
8-12 ripe roma tomatoes (those elongated ones), chopped, chucked in a large bowl and smushed by hand (so much fun!)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 spring onions, chopped (you can use regular onions if you wish, i just always have spring onions at hand)
1 jalapeno, minced (deseed it if you want it to be less spicy)
handful fresh basil, shredded
extra virgin olive oil
salt* & pepper to taste
2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut up in strips or cubes, whatever you prefer
1 box whole wheat linguine
parsley to garnish (optional)

1. i usually start by cooking the chicken - heat up some olive oil in a pan on med-high heat, season your chicken with salt and pepper (you can just put it in a bowl and tumble it round with your hands 'til it's all coated). cook for about 14 - 18 mins (you can check by cutting a thicker piece to see if it's no longer pink). take the pan off the stove, put it on a heat-safe surface (an oven mitt will do fine) and cover 'til you need it. 

2. now at this point, if you haven't chopped, diced and minced your other ingredients, do it now. done? great, we can move on.

3. put the salted water for the pasta to boil (i read somewhere that when cooking pasta, the water should be as salty as the mediterranean, so...). i usually use a larger pot for this as i mix in the sauce with the pasta afterward, but do as you please. when the water boils, throw in the linguine, being careful to stir around a bit so that it doesn't stick together. start checking for doneness about 2 min before the al dente cook time indicated on the packet. when it's done, drain the pasta and put it back in the pot. 

4. while the water's boiling/pasta's cooking, in a medium saucepan, heat some more olive oil on med heat (perhaps a little higher than med, but not too high as you don't want to brown/burn the garlic, making it bitter). once it's heated, chuck in the garlic, onion, jalapeno and some of the shredded basil. swirl it round a bit (about a minute), being careful of the garlic.

5. now's the time to tip in the smushed tomatoes - be sure to try to get all the juices. stir the tomato sauce, lower the heat to med-low, and let it simmer for about 12 minutes - the flavours will meld beautifully (and if you're anything like me, the smell will make you salivate)

6. add in the chicken and the rest of the shredded basil to the tomato sauce, let it sit for a couple minutes (giving the time for the chicken to absorb some flavour). taste it and season with salt & pepper to your preference. tip the sauce into the pot full of linguine, mix everything up, garnish with some chopped up parsley and serve.

note :this sauce isn't very thick and i've never been tempted to thicken it, but you could do it by either adding more tomatoes and leaving out most of the juice when you mix them with the garlicky-jalapenoey-onioney oil or adding tomato paste (but i fear that will mess with the flavour). also, some people may not want the tomato skins - that's fine, just blanche the tomatoes for about a minute and peel the skins off before mushing them up. 

*i use sea salt and ground pepper for their flavour, and table salt should do, but do try to avoid the powdery, sneezy pepper