Recipe: Perciatelli all'Amatriciana

Sometimes a girl just needs a bowl of pasta. With bacon. It was a terrible, no good, horrible, very bad day, and what could make me feel better than a bit o'bacon, dressed up in a spicy tomato sauce and then draped over long strands of hollowed-out spaghetti? Nada, folks, and so I set to it, chopping up pancetta and red onion, crushing cloves of garlic, running my knife through a can full of sloppy tomatoes. Common sense dictated a vegetable on the side, so I threw two whole artichokes in a pot of boiling water (and then melted half a stick of butter to dip their leaves in. I was feeling better already.) An episode of my new addiction and one bottle of gorgeous red wine later, and the bad day faded into a very mellow, very satisfying evening.

Perciatelli all'Amatriciana (adapted from the Gourmet cookbook)
Serves 2 (with enough sauce for lunch the next day)

1 TBSP olive oil
5 ounces pancetta, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, drained and juice reserved, tomatoes roughly chopped
1/2 cup water
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 lb. perciatelli (also called bucatini) or spaghetti
Parmesan cheese to taste

In a large sauce pan, heat oil over medium high heat. Add pancetta and onion and cook, stirring, until onion is golden, about 6 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes (if desired) and stir it around for another minute. Throw in tomatoes and juice, water, sugar and salt and bring to a simmer. Simmer uncovered until thickened, about 30 minutes. 15 minutes before the pasta sauce will be finished, put a pot of salted water on to boil and boil pasta according to package directions. Serve with a healthy grating of Parmesan cheese, kick back, and let all your woes fade away.

Comments

[clare eats]

I think we are going to be having this for dinner this week :)

A nice bottle of red can work wonders ;) plus the bacon, can't for get the bacon ;)

[Tea]

This sounds so good, Catherine. I can't wait to make it! And I loved that Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day book when I was a kid. Sometimes I get that feeling too--so nice we're grownups now and can fall back on a good dinner and bottle of wine to make everything better.

[Catherine]

Clare -- oh you must, it was so good and we still have some left in the fridge that I'm dying to eat, I'm just trying not to be too much of a pig -- resolutions and all...

Tea (cute nickname, Tara!) -- I know, that book is cute and it's a grand lesson for us all. I could probably do with a rereading. This particular THNGVB day was the fault of one cell phone company...argh!

[Nerissa]

Food is always welcome on such a No-Good-Day. I'm glad to see that anxiety faded into sated mellowness. I hope things are looking a little more up now. :) *HUGS*

I've been debating what to do with my very small, very precious supply of proscuttio. I wonder if I'll make this recipe. Hmmmm...

[Catherine]

Nerissa -- thank you! My recipe calls for pancetta, which is more like bacon than prosciutto, and I'd think twice about putting your fine prosciutto in here. It's so delicate I'd probably save it for a dish where it can be really appreciated rather than fading into the tomatoes. Maybe wrapped around asparagus spears? Or around melon? Or by itself with a hunk of really nice Manchego cheese, almonds and a glass of wine. If you do decide to use it in this, don't add ANY salt at all, and consider adding sugar to taste as the sauce cooks.

[Mom]

I added the 3 things I don't already have to my list & plan to try this soon. It really looks delicious!

[Susan]

Catherine, my Sicilian grandfather is rolling in his grave right now... sugar in a tomato sauce?!? That happens all too frequently in America, even in some of the better restaurants I have reviewed, but Sicilians add a carrot -- in fact, my grandpa Lorenzo called carrots "Sicilian Sweetener." Just one medium-sized carrot, cut into small pieces, will bring down the acidity of a large batch of tomato-based sauce naturalmente! Vivande, Luella and Steps of Rome Trattoria (not the Steps of Rome -- the excellent trattoria) all use carrots in their ragù sauces to delicious and traditional affect.

[Catherine]

Susan -- great advice! I too have used carrots in tomato sauces, but didn't realize why I was doing it.

[Susan]

Good to hear! Grandpa Lorenzo can rest now knowing that another American is using the Sicilian Sweetener. The older I get the more I appreciate all of the cooking lessons he gave me in his great old kitchen back east and all the times we went clamming and fishing, made cacciuco, or had clambakes on the beach. It doesn't get any better than that ---except when you're a kid, you don't realize that ;-)