Try our take on this traditional Italian pasta sauce. With pancetta, onion, Pecorino Romano and a dash of chili flakes, this flavorful dish will be sure to impress!
Amatriciana
Ingredients
- 1 pound of Bucatini or Perciatelli
- 1 pound of Pancetta cut into even small pieces
- 1 pound of fine chopped white onion
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 16 ounces of canned Italian DOP tomato cored and chopped
- 3 ounces olive oil
- ¼ pound of freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- 1 cup white wine
- Chili flakes
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a 14 inch sauté pan add the olive oil and pancetta and heat at medium heat.
- Cook the pancetta until it starts to brown, as soon as browning begins add the chopped onion and cook for 4-5 minutes until onion starts to caramelize. This is where Amatriciana sauce gets its flavor, stir frequently so mixture is browning not burning.
- Now add the tomato paste and stir into mixture, cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the white wine and deglaze the pan. This is a process in cooking where you use the liquid (the wine), to help loosen all the caramelized goodness from the bottom of the pan, so it becomes part of the sauce and is not left behind.
- Add the DOP tomatoes to the mixture; stir tomatoes to integrate them with onion and pancetta. Continue to cook until tomato, pancetta and onion mixture starts to boil.
- The sauce must reduce a little bit, so reduce the heat to medium/low and continue to cook for about 45-60 minutes after first boil, stirring frequently so sauce does not burn. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper, and chili flakes to taste.
- Ten minutes before sauce is finished, drop Perciatelli into the boiling pasta water.
- Follow pasta cooking instructions on the label I look to cook the pasta for 30-45 seconds less then instructed time to insure pasta is al dente.
- Drain the pasta and add perciatelli or bucatini to the sauté pan remember always to drip a little of the pasta water into the pan.
- Toss the pasta and the sauce several times until the pasta is covered with the sauce. With a pair of tongs put a swirl of pasta into each serving bowl. Then with a spoon put a hearty spoonful of the remaining sauce on top of each swirl of pasta. Finish each dish with freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese or try Ricotta Salata cheese, serve immediately.
