The Best Sauce - Amatriciana

Filed in archive Recipes on September 4, 2007

This is the best sauce!

I made it once, years ago and forgot all about it. (for some strange reason it didn't make an impression the first time around)
Last year, while searching for a recipe to use up a few things in my kitchen, I stumbled across Amatriciana sauce in one of my all time favorite cookbooks, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan.

This time I loved it!

It is now one of my favorite sauces, especially if I don't have a lot of time. It takes just a bit longer than the time it takes for the water to boil and the pasta to cook. It is smoky and rich and very, very good. And simple to make. I like that.




Amatriciana - Tomato Sauce with Pancetta and Chili pepper
taken from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

for four servings

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, chopped fine
A 1/4-inch-thick slice of pancetta, cut into strips 1/2 inch wide and 1 inch long
1 1/2 cups imported Italian plum tomatoes, drained and cut up
Chopped hot red chili pepper, to taste
Salt
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2 tablespoons freshly grated Romano cheese
1 pound pasta

1. Put the oil, butter, and onion in a saucepan and turn on the heat to medium. Sauté the onion until it becomes colored a pale gold, then add the pancetta. Cook for about 1 minute, stirring once or twice. Add the tomatoes, the chili pepper, and salt, and cook in the uncovered pan at a steady, gentle simmer for 25 minutes. Being careful it doesn't burn. Taste and correct for salt and hot pepper.
2. Toss the pasta with the sauce, then add both cheeses, and toss thoroughly again.

The traditional pasta shape to use with Amatriciana sauce is bucatini, a thick, hollow spaghetti. If you don't have bucatini, spaghetti is a fine substitute.