Recipe: Bucatini all’Amatriciana

Last night I decided to make pasta for the fam–this is something I rarely do since I don’t eat pasta all that much, but every now and then it’s good to make an exception.

First, I left school promptly at 3:45. Now that the sun is out, this dismissal time is such a treat. Once home, I surrounded myself with all my Italian cookbooks, but I couldn’t find the recipe. I knew it was “matriciana” something. Finally I found the proper name of the recipe–Amatriciana coming from the northern Italian town of Amatrice. It was at this time that I went to my all time favorite online recipe depository: Tastespotting.com.

I checked out a couple of variations of this yummy bacon and tomato based sauce, but I settled on Poco-Cocoa’s and read through her variation.  (That’s the great thing about Tastespotting; it links you to other fantastic bloggers.  Poco-Cocoa’s one of them!)  I took one look at her photo and knew I wanted to make what she had for dinner!

After reading how she made it and drooling over her photo (as seen up above), I headed across the street to the market.  I couldn’t find bucatini, so I settled on regine.  (I would not use regine noodles again–they are so stiff and worm like.  They ended up bouncing all over our plates.)

Since I read it once, I didn’t follow Poco-Cocoa’s recipe exactly. Here’s what I did.

1. With scissors cut up a package of bacon and start frying;
2. Halve 2 cups cherry tomatoes;
3. Dice one onion;
4. Prepare some garlic (to your preference–I used four small cloves);
5. Once the bacon’s about half way cooked you can add the onion;
6. A few more minutes later, add the garlic;
7. When the onion is soft and starting to brown and the bacon is cooked through, add the cherry tomato tools;
8. Go to the fridge and look for some leftover white wine–I think about 1/2 cup was added;
9. Just keep simmering for awhile and then you can turn off the stove;
10. When you’re ready for dinner, boil some water and put in the desired amount of noodles. I used 3/4 a package of pasta.  Although typically this pasta is served with bucatini (a real thin long tubed pasta, any pasta will do;
11. Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese and fresh cut parsley.

Buon appetito!