Wondering what to cook for dinner tonight? Easy Bucatini Amatriciana is for you. It’s made of items you probably already have on hand. Bacon is a great freezer flavor gem and who doesn’t always have an onion and a box of pasta around? Not a bad deal for a few simple items to transport me to a memorable meal in Amalfi, Italy.
Traditionally, this pasta sauce is made with pancetta, but honestly I prefer the smokiness of the bacon if I had to choose. Also bucatini (long, skinny tubes) pictured here would be the ideal pasta choice, but any long pasta will do. Spaghetti, linguine etc.
Basic Ingredients For Pasta With Bacon:
- olive oil
- bacon
- onion
- wine
- canned tomatoes
- chili flakes
If you let frozen bacon sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes, it’s pretty easy to cut off a couple inches and chop into small pieces for this. I generally remove the bacon from the skillet and drain off most of fat once the bacon has gotten crispy. But if you want to leave more of it in the sauce, I won’t tell! Cooking without a recipe means you’re in charge.
Then add the sliced onions and cook them over low heat until they have become golden brown, scraping up all the browned bits as you go along. Give them enough time because the depth of flavor derived makes all the difference. I add some wine along the way as it becomes necessary. I usually use red wine, but white is fine too. Alternatively, you could splash a touch of vinegar in there if you wanted to. A little balsamic or red wine vinegar would be good. Develop your intuition in the kitchen as you experiment with simple meals like this one.
Once the onions have cooked down and become sweet and golden brown, add the canned tomatoes. Whichever variety you have works. Diced tomatoes hold their shape more than others and we prefer a saucier consistency for this, so crushed tomatoes or whole peeled tomatoes pureed in the food processor are preferable. Tomato sauce would be fine too. I’m sure you have something suitable in your pantry and now know what to cook for dinner tonight. Easy!
I like to add some red chili flakes and maybe some garlic and French thyme. Maybe some more wine before returning bacon to the sauce. Simmer, taste and see if you desire a little more of the bacon fat that you poured off…Let sauce simmer until the pasta is ready. Pull the pasta out with tongs and mix with the sauce.
What have your travels inspired you to cook? Here’s another favorite we discovered in Capri.
Molto Buono!