The Wine Experience

Recipe of the Week!

Mario Batali¹s Bucatini al’Amatriciana - Bucatini with Bacon and Tomato
The Wine Experience Wine Recommendation: Super Tuscan

Makes 4 servings

For the Tomato Sauce:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 Spanish onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

11/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

2 tablespoons finely shredded carrot

One 28-ounce can whole tomatoes

Salt

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

12 ounces thinly sliced guanciale (see note below), or pancetta or good bacon

1 red onion, cut in half lengthwise and sliced into 1/4-inch-thick half-moons

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1 1/2 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes

1 pound bucatiniFreshly grated Pecorino Romano

To prepare the tomato sauce, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat in a 3-quart saucepan. Add onion and garlic, and cook until soft and light golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the thyme and carrot, and cook until the carrot is quite soft, about 5 minutes.Add the tomatoes with their juice, and bring to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer until thickened, about 30 minutes. Season with salt.

The sauce can be refrigerated for up to one week or frozen for six months.

To cook the pasta, bring 6 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot, and add 2 tablespoons salt  .Meanwhile, in a 10- to 12-inch sauté pan, combine 1/2 cup olive oil, guanciale (or the pancetta or bacon), onion, garlic and red pepper flakes.  Cook over low heat until the onion is soft and the meat has rendered much of its fat, about 12 minutes.

Drain all but 1/4 cup of the fat from the pan. (The drained grease can be saved for frying the eggs for breakfast the following day). Add the tomato sauce, bring to a boil, lower the heat and let the sauce simmer for 6 to 7 minutes. While the sauce simmers, cook the bucatini in the boiling water for about a minute less than the package directions, until it is still very firm.  Drain.

Add the pasta to the simmering sauce, toss it to coat and let cook for about 1 minute. Divide the pasta among four heated bowls and serve immediately, topped with freshly grated Pecorino Romano.

Courtesy, Mario Batali and Bene Magazine

Note about guanciale from Mario: You can order guanciale from my dad at www.salumicuredmeats.com .While bacon and most similar products come from the belly of a pig, guanciale is made bysalt-curing and drying the meat from a hog¹s jowls. Although the meat is leaner than the traditional pancetta or bacon, it has a richer flavor and makes every dish more succulent.

Wine pairing from Ian D'Agata:  Choose a medium-bodied red wine that has some body and structure to stand up to this hearty, flavorful pasta. Try one of Lazio¹s most popular red wines, Cesanese di Olevano Romano or Cesanese del Piglio. (And they¹re fairly priced, so you won¹t need to take out a second mortgage.) For something different, yet similar in style, try a medium-bodied hearty red from the Maremma area in lower Tuscany, such as a Morellino di Scansano.  (Fittingly, Mario Batali and his partner Joe Bastianich own a vineyard in this region.)-- Ian D¹Agata, Bene¹s wine columnist and the director of the International Wine Academy of Rome.