Pasta amatriciana; Cooking Italy and a give away!!

In the spirit of the season I figured I would do a give-a-way as I saw this fun book while browsing for christmas presents on the web. I ordered two copies; one for me and one for the lucky winner of the give away. It’s a book with Dutch recipes, called Dutch Delight and while I haven’t seen it myself yet it looks like a fun book with some very typical Dutch recipes in there. So if you’ve always wanted to know everything about Dutch cooking and how to make it now is the time to leave a fun comment on my blog. The winner will be picked at random and I might ask for the help of Tom for that very important task… Be sure to enter your comment before December 25th!!

O and in case you were wondering; no, we don’t all walk around like the lady on the cover! There are still some areas of Holland where you can find the traditional clothing, mainly places like Volendam and the like and even then, I do think it is in large part to please the tourists… Anyway, no hesitating and go and leave that comment!

Now on to the dish I prepared today; I had been meaning to give this one a go for a looooong time as everybody was raving about it. When you look at the ingredients you might think; what is all the fuss about? It’s a pasta dish with tomato sauce… and well, it is. However, due to the added chili and the pancetta this dish is simply delicious. Or maybe it is the slow cooking times (not really a slow dish to make, but simmering mere tomato sauce for 25 minutes is long normally) that give it the added flavor. If I look at the other dishes I have made from Marcella sofar then I am thinking it must have been a combination of both.

Now ofcourse I am a huge tomato fan; just love them. First of all; I think they are very pretty with their nice round shiny skins and luscious glossy exterior… and then on the inside there is all this yummy goodness. Ok, admittedly we have some pretty bad tomatoes here as well. It’s only in recent years that we can buy more then your average watery tomato. We now have pomodori, tasty tom’s, cherry tomatoes in all colors, kumatoes etc. etc. Don’t you just love international influences??

Now I have to admit that I made this dish in the afternoon thinking I needed to have some light to take a photo… How sad is that. I am home alone tonight as Tom is gonna be working late, so nobody is expecting dinner to be at regular dinner times. With the current winter months the light fades really quickly so in terms of photo taking; you can actually prepare this dish ahead. It should be warmed up in no time I am guessing.

I was not the only one who was very interested in this particular dish; I think it was the crisp pancetta that I put on top that made the smell irresistible to Gizmo! I couldn’t help but take a quick snap before I chased her away from my dinner

Gizmo trying to catch a little bit of pancetta!

If you would like to try this dish yourself (and it is worth it!!) here is the recipe

Pasta Amatriciana (tomato sauce with Pancetta and chilli pepper from The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan)

Serves 4

2 tbsp of vegetable oil

15 gr butter

1 medium onion, finely chopped

6 mm/1/4 inc thick slice of pancetta, cut into strips

400 gr tinned imported Italian plum tomatoes, drained and cut up

chopped hot red chilli

pepper, to taste

salt

3 tbsp freshly grated parmezan

450 gr pasta

Marcella recommends using bucatini for the pasta shape. Since I did not have that available I used conchi’s (I think they were called that, but I am not sure!) penne, rigatoni or conchiglie would also work equally well.

1. Put the oil, butter and onion in a saucepan and turn on the heat to medium. Saute the onion until it becomes coloured a pale gold, then add the pancetta. Where I live it is impossible to find pancetta that is thicker then very thin and already sliced so I used thinly sliced pancetta but left the slices on top of eachother which then resembled a slightly thicker slice. Cook for about 1 minute, stirring once or twice. Add the tomatoes, chili pepper and salt, and cook, uncovered, at a steady gentle simmer for about 25 minutes. Taste and correct for salt and hot pepper.

2. Toss the pasta with the sauce, then add both cheeses, and toss thoroughly. I could only find the one cheese, so I used only parmezan, which worked great anyway.

This dish was made for Cooking Italy!

Related posts:

Related Posts:

• Tomato bruschetta and pasta with cream and sausages; Cooking Italy!
• Spaghetti with crushed tomatoes
• Mediterranean couscous and lentil salad
• Pasta with shrimps and a little story
• Punjabi chicken curry

Tagged as: amatriciana, cooking italy, giveaway, pasta, recipe, Recipes, tomatoes