Luca Lazzari
Sous Chef
Hi friends, I found this fine recipe in one of my cookbooks, La pasta delle nonne (Grandmothers’ pasta). It’s basically one of the 375 billions variations of an Italian tomato+vegs+cured pork pasta sauce. It comes from the Marche region, a beautiful and small region in central Italy, on the Adriatic sea.
So, this morning I’ll go out for some basic shopping and I’ll have it for dinner. It looks like a good recipe, with good sound ingredients, easy to make. More comfy than showy, IMO. We’ll see.
Now let’s take a look at the recipe.
Ingredients serving 4
150 g pancetta coppata, diced (substitute with pancetta, or prosciutto crudo, but not with other cold cuts, or you would change too much the intended flavor and texture)
1 onion, medium size
1 small carrot
1 celery stick
3 tablespoons EVOO
1 glass red wine
450 g canned chopped peeled tomatoes (not a runny bottled tomato sauce, because we need some texture here)
Fine grounded salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons coarse salt
450 g bucatini (or other long shaped pasta, like spaghetti, trenette, etc.)
1 cup grated pecorino cheese (or parmigiano reggiano)
How to make Bucatini alla Marchigiana
1-- Prepare the vegs: finely chop together onion, carrot and celery. Dice the pancetta: you don’t need too large meat cubes, I cut them about 1/2 cm.
Warm EVOO in a saucepan on medium heat, add the pancetta and sautée for about 3/5 minutes. You don’t want to cook it for too long, because it will cook again in the tomato sauce, and you want to transfer its “porky” flavor to the sauce. Add and sautée the minced vegs, stirring with a wooden spoon about 4 minutes. Pour in the glass of red wine and let it dry.
2-- In the meantime, bring a large pot of water (about 4 or 5 l water) to a rolling boil, then add about 2 tablespoons of coarse salt.
3-- Add the chopped tomatoes to the saucepan, stir well, cook about 5 minutes, taste it and add grounded salt and black pepper. Cook about 15 minutes on low/medium heat, and check it again before the end to see if it’s savory enough for you.
4-- Add the pasta to the boiling water, stir it and cook it for the time printed on the label. Drain your pasta, put it in the saucepan on high heat and mix it with the sauce very quickly, because you don’t wont to overcook it.
Transfer your pasta in a large bowl, stir well, add grated cheese, stir again and serve at once.
Buon appetito!
So, this morning I’ll go out for some basic shopping and I’ll have it for dinner. It looks like a good recipe, with good sound ingredients, easy to make. More comfy than showy, IMO. We’ll see.
Now let’s take a look at the recipe.
Ingredients serving 4
150 g pancetta coppata, diced (substitute with pancetta, or prosciutto crudo, but not with other cold cuts, or you would change too much the intended flavor and texture)
1 onion, medium size
1 small carrot
1 celery stick
3 tablespoons EVOO
1 glass red wine
450 g canned chopped peeled tomatoes (not a runny bottled tomato sauce, because we need some texture here)
Fine grounded salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons coarse salt
450 g bucatini (or other long shaped pasta, like spaghetti, trenette, etc.)
1 cup grated pecorino cheese (or parmigiano reggiano)
How to make Bucatini alla Marchigiana
1-- Prepare the vegs: finely chop together onion, carrot and celery. Dice the pancetta: you don’t need too large meat cubes, I cut them about 1/2 cm.
Warm EVOO in a saucepan on medium heat, add the pancetta and sautée for about 3/5 minutes. You don’t want to cook it for too long, because it will cook again in the tomato sauce, and you want to transfer its “porky” flavor to the sauce. Add and sautée the minced vegs, stirring with a wooden spoon about 4 minutes. Pour in the glass of red wine and let it dry.
2-- In the meantime, bring a large pot of water (about 4 or 5 l water) to a rolling boil, then add about 2 tablespoons of coarse salt.
3-- Add the chopped tomatoes to the saucepan, stir well, cook about 5 minutes, taste it and add grounded salt and black pepper. Cook about 15 minutes on low/medium heat, and check it again before the end to see if it’s savory enough for you.
4-- Add the pasta to the boiling water, stir it and cook it for the time printed on the label. Drain your pasta, put it in the saucepan on high heat and mix it with the sauce very quickly, because you don’t wont to overcook it.
Transfer your pasta in a large bowl, stir well, add grated cheese, stir again and serve at once.
Buon appetito!
I'm always afraid to add garnishing which could interfere with the flavor of a recipe; for example, I like basil, but I would not add basil leaves to this dish. And I hate adding chopped parsley
