A deliciously simple pasta sauce of onions, guanciale, chili flakes and black pepper simmered in San Marzano tomatoes. This is the perfect mid week meal for the family and can easily be made using bacon instead of guanciale.
INGREDIENTS
1/2 piece Guanciale (see notes) or 5 slices of bacon, chopped
1/2 Onion finely diced
1 Pinch chili flakes
1 Pinch salt
1 Pinch black pepper
1/2 Large tin crushed San Marzano Tomatoes
1 Pack of Bucatini
VIDEO RECIPE
METHOD
Chop the guancaile and the onion.
Fry the guanciale in a little bit of oil in a pan on a gentle heat for about 5 minutes until the fat renders out.
Add the onions and fry for a further 5 minutes until translucent.
Season with salt, black pepper and dried chili flakes. Black pepper and Chili flakes are critical to the all'amantricana flavor, so be generous with both of them. Cook them for a minute or so the oil and fat can be flavored by them.
Add the bucatini to a large saucepan of boiling water and cook as per instructions on pack.
Add 1/2 tin of crushed San Marzano tomatoes, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and cook on a gentle simmer until the pasta is cooked.
Add the pasta to the sauce.
Toss well, so all the pasta is coated.
Add a ladle of cooking water if necessary to loosen the sauce.
Great over some parmesan and serve.
WINE PAIRING
When I eat this dish, I often want a glass of red wine, which is problematic as this dish is nice and spicy with acidic tomatoes. We recommend and acidic red wine to go with it such as barbera or a Sangiovese to make eating this dish even more enjoyable.
NOTES
Guancaile is a cured pigs cheek or pigs jowl. It is dry cured with salt and black pepper and has a high fat content. Guancaile is easy to find in a good italian deli or good butcher. I would highly recomend trying to find it to make this dish and of course and authentic carbonara.