This is an Italian recipe I prepare when I want to give a kick to tomatoes sauce. It’s so easy and tasty, everybody loves it! It comes from Amatrice a city lately affected by a devastating earthquake. Many chefs decided to devolve all the money made from this dish in their restaurants to the beloved city.
Preparation: 35min
Serves: 4 People
Difficulty: Easy
Mamma Flora’s Tip: The original recipe requires Guanciale (cured cheek pork) instead of bacon and pecorino cheese. Ask for them in one of your local Italian delis.
The type of pasta is very important for the success of the recipe, I usually use pasta made in Gragnano, which stays al dente and doesn't break while cooking. You can use long pasta like Bucatini or short pasta like Rigatoni.
Ingredients:
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500gr Bucatini or Rigatoni
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150gr of Guanciale otherwise use bacon
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2 cans of peeled plum tomatoes
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100gr pecorino romano cheese otherwise parmesan will do the job
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dried chillies per your taste
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salt and pepper
Method:
- Cut the Guanciale in long pieces and place it in a pan with chilli as per your taste at low heat
- Fry it until crispy, we don't need oil as Guanciale has lots of fat which will melt in the pan (if you use bacon with less fat, you might want to add some olive oil while frying)
- Once you see that the Guanciale is cooked, add the tomatoes, salt to taste and leave it to cook for 20min at medium heat. Make sure the sauce doesn't dry
- In the meantime boil some water in a large pot. Once it’s boiling add some salt and put the pasta into the water. Try the pasta 2 min before the cooking time stated on the package to make sure it is al dente (the core should still be hard)
- Drain the pasta and add the sauce you prepared before, add pepper and sprinkle it with some amazing pecorino cheese
- Enjoy this central Italian dish