THE current month, August, is named after Augustus Caesar, who was the first emperor of Rome.

He replaced the Roman Republic with an effective monarchy, bringing peace and stability to Rome during his long reign.

In 43 BC his great-uncle, Julius Caesar, was assassinated, and Augustus was named as his heir. But instead of simply becoming a dictator Augustus founded the principate – a system of monarchy.

The food that was consumed in Roman times has actually had a significant impact on today’s Italian cuisine.

Cookbooks are, for the most part, a modern invention, first appearing in the late 1800s.

Before that though, the most notable cookbook was written by a Roman named Apicius, who is credited with writing the first cookbook that we know of.

Apicius wrote two cookbooks, one on sauces, and then a follow-up which expanded on the first.

The earliest surviving manuscript of that book dates from the 9th century and has since been almost entirely translated into English.

The book was almost certainly intended for the upper classes, because it calls for expensive ingredients and has a large number of meat recipes that would have been hard for someone who was not rich to afford.

Your average Roman actually ate very simply, and not like the obscenely wealthy Romans you will often see portrayed in movies.

Those Romans who were not well off had to rely on simple pasta dishes that packed in a lot of flavour with not very many ingredients – something that is not easy when you cannot afford meat or the other lavish ingredients enjoyed by the wealthy.

One dish that originated from Roman times, that is still enjoyed today is penne all’arrabbiata.

Arrabbiata sauce, or sugo all’arrabbiata in Italian, is a spicy sauce made from garlic, tomatoes, and dried red chilli peppers cooked in olive oil.

Arrabbiata translates into English as “angry” – it has this name because the chilli peppers make the sauce quite spicy.

Supposedly, after eating an especially hot version of the dish, it can make your face turn red which can leave you looking like you are angry!

There are many uses for arrabbiata sauce in Italian cuisine.

It can be used on pizzas, it can be served with meat dishes such as lamb or beef, or it can be used to top a multitude of different pastas. The most commonly used pasta to serve with arrabbiata sauce is penne.

The recipe for penne all’arrabbiata is not too different from your typical pasta in tomato sauce dish, which means it is simple to make.

But the addition of chilli peppers makes it stand out from the average tomato sauce, breathing life into a dish that might not otherwise seem exciting.