I didn't take anything out of the freezer for dinner on Monday so after lunch I began perusing through some blogs to help give me an idea of what to cook. I came across this recipe from Lucy at Sweets, Savories, etc. Like me, Lucy comes from an Italian family and our method of cooking is very similar. If you don't know Lucy please check out her blog, you will be very happy you did. So when I came across this recipe for Penne all' Amatriciana I knew it was the winner for tonight. I had a pacakge of diced pancetta in the freezer and that doesn't take long to defrost. I didn't have a 16 ounce can of whole peeled plum tomatoes but after chatting with Lucy I decided to use two cans of diced tomatoes. You can see from my photo that mine wasn't as saucy as Lucy's but it still works. This dish was delicious and I wouldn't change a thing! I only have one recommendation, don't bother using Perciatelli with this sauce. Perciatelli pasta is a long tubular pasta that has a hole in it, think tubatini or ditalini before it's cut into small pieces. It may be slightly fatter than Bucatini. This pasta is certainly fun but it's messy. You can't twirl the long thick pasta and it's one of those that slap you in the face. I'm sure kids would love it. It didn't do a good job of holding onto the sauce and since I used diced tomatoes it was difficult to grab the tomatoes and the pasta at the same time. So next time (and there certainly will be a next time) I will use penne like Lucy did. I don't know why I didn't do that in the first place!
Lucy's all' Amatriciana (with my notes)
1 lb Penne (or pasta of your choice)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
5 ounces pancetta or bacon, chopped (This is what really makes the sauce)
1 clove garlic, minced (I did up this to three because I loove garlic)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
3/4 cup-dry white wine
16 ounces-plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (I used two cans diced plus pasta water to make it a little less chunky)
2 tablespoons basil, chopped
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
freshly grated Romano cheese
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