Bucatini all'Amatriciana Recipe
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The ability to pull off a meal in about 30 minutes is an enormous social asset—and it’s quite possible. This recipe is a pan pasta sauce for bucatini (hollow spaghetti) that doesn’t require endless simmering and can be turned out from a well-stocked pantry.
What to buy:
Look for the famed San Marzano tomatoes in Italian groceries. If you can’t find them, substitute regular canned whole tomatoes.
Bucatini pasta works great here because the hollow centers get filled with sauce. You can substitute spaghetti if you can’t find bucatini.
This recipe was featured in our How to Make Pancetta story.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
- 3 thick pancetta slices (about 1/3 pound), cut into 1/2-inch squares
- 1 (28-ounce) can whole San Marzano tomatoes, coarsely chopped with juices reserved
- 2 small dried red chile peppers
- 1 pound dry bucatini or spaghetti
- Freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese, for serving
- Heat olive oil and butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. When butter foams, add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add pancetta and cook, stirring rarely, until slightly crisp, about 3 minutes more.
- Add tomatoes and their juices and a generous pinch of salt. Crumble in chile peppers, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer uncovered until sauce is slightly thickened, about 20 minutes.
- While sauce simmers, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil and cook bucatini according to the package directions. Reserve about 1/4 cup pasta cooking water, drain pasta but do not rinse, add to the frying pan, and toss to coat in sauce. Add reserved pasta water if needed to thin the sauce.
- Transfer to serving plates, sprinkle with Pecorino Romano, and serve immediately.
Beverage pairing: A high-acid varietal like Barbera would definitely pair well with this dish. Although Barbera can be vinified in various ways, look for one that has little or no oak influence, as this could prove problematic with the heat from the pepper flakes. Simple, juicy, pure fruit is best. Try the 2003 Agostino Pavia Barbera d’Asti Bricco Blina.
If the fresh garlic is minced, you don't need to pull it out. Also, once the onion and garlic are sauteeing in the olive oil, add 1/3 of a cup of light white wine (Pinot Grigio works well) and let it boil off. It softens the onions/garlic and adds significantly to the aroma and taste of the amatriciana sauce.
I hate to be the pedant in the room, but a true All'Amatriciana should use guanciale (smoked pig's jowl bacon), not Pancetta, which is an altogether flavor and texture. Guanciale can be found at many Italian delis and specialty stores. Also, animal fat is recommended over olive oil, which is considered a substitute. Lard is traditional, although duck fat would also work splendidly, probably better than olive oil.
Just finished cooking and serving this. My roommate said that it was a little salty but, I may have overdone it with the pasta as it boiled. Granted, the pecorino is really salty too. Otherwise SUCCESS!!!
I pretty sure the photo shown is of spaghetti and not bucatini - which is far thicker
I've been experimenting with this dish for around 15 years. I've concluded that there really is no right or wrong way to do it, though there probably is a traditional way, as discussed above.
My personal preference is for pancetta, onions, fresh peperoncini & a bit of olive oi, in addition to tomatoes, of course.
I had an epiphany with this dish in Venice in the mid-1990s. I'd ordered a spaghetti amatriciana & it came out looking so pale, I at first thought they'd brought me the wrong order. It was indeed an amatriciana, made with fresh tomatoes which gave it a lighter & quite different orientation. The balance between the flavors of the tomato, pancetta, onion, peperoncini, pasta & romano was absolutely perfect.
This is an approach that you want to use to highlight a really good pasta. It's not easy to get the proportions right so that the flavors are well balanced. I've come close a few times. It's great to play with.
Oh, this tastes sooo good. This will be put into my regular repertoire. I love it and it's so simple.
Well, I guess I'm just one lucky guy.....I was able to get guanciale four minutes from my house in Austin, TX (Mandola's). Just finished eating this dish a few minutes ago.
The guanciale released a liberal amount of fat - the recipe seems to try and imitate that with butter and olive oil. I didn't have to use ANY oil or butter at all, other than what came from the guanciale. The fat is earthy and round on the palate, and that goes well with the sharpness and slight sweetness of the San Marzano tomatoes. I used pepper flakes, and topped the pasta with sheep's milk cheese prior to topping with sauce. My guanciale was aged in herbs, bay leaves, salt, and pepper, so there was no need to add basil or anything to compete with that.
This is one of those keep it simple recipes, but it does leave on wanting to try variations.
Hi, foodshark- I really enjoyed that article, as well. While guanciale is certainly the correct meat to use, it's just not that easy to find. Even here in NYC, the few places that carry it don't always have it at the ready. I happen to love the flavor of pancetta, though, and don't really mind substituting when I have to. Subbing rigatoni for the bucatini is also pretty common, in even in Rome. As far as the article is concerned, the only reported "fact" I took issue with was the implication that all Romans add onion. The debate over whether the recipe truly calls for onion rages on, even within Rome. Not all chefs use it. While I personally do not use onion in mine, I have used garlic at times (especially when I don't have guanciale). The Pecorino Romano, on the other hand, must never be left out! Thanks for the link!
yeah but lobster still tastes good in this recipe
The New York Times ran a story today touching on a lot of these points in the amatriciana debate (verdict: no point without guanciale). I'm fine with bacon myself, but it's a good read:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/din...
Authentic, schmauthentic. Butter makes it taste better.
Butter is completely out of place, but so is olive oil. Guanciale is best and produces quite enough fat on its own. I've never heard of garlic. Oretta Zanini De Vita, noted authority on the food of Lazio, swears by onion, as does Agata Parisella, owner-chef of Agata e Romeo and famous for her matriciana. I forget whether they use red pepper, but I do--a whole little peperoncino, maybe broken in two, or piece of a big one, never the flakes. Yes to spaghetti. No-no-no to parmigiano. Yes to adding generous amounts of pecorino romano before serving. And yes, the pronunciation of both spellings is identical. Most menus use matriciana, though not philologically correct. Some people add a splash of wine or vinegar to the guanciale.
La gricia is the original matriciana and has nothing but guanciale, pecorino romano, and a little pasta water. Minor variations on the tomato version aren't that important. (Butter and parmigiano are not minor.)
CLOVE17402: You are partially correct, and partially incorrect. Indeed, this dish originated in the area currently known as Amatrice, in the Province of Rieti, within modern-day Lazio, and can be served red or white, and, as I mentioned above, is not made with onions. However, the "Gricia" theory that you mention would support the idea that this dish actually came from Rome- after all, it was Roman farmers who originated "Gricia", as made with sausage. On the other hand, the "all'Amatriciana" theory (as opposed to the alla Matriciana theory, which you characterize as being a mispronunciation), would put the origins of this dish in the Abruzzo region, and Lazio, since Province of Rieti (where Amatrice is located) was part of the region of Abruzzo when this dish would have been invented.
Furthermore, I am not sure why a "clipped" dialect, as you call it, would make a difference in what this dish is called- alla Matriciana and all'Amatriciana would be pronounced almost identically.
As Clove17402 notes, debate rages on the subject -- but if you believe actor-gourmand Aldo Fabrizi, there are actually two distinct dishes: Matriciana and Amatriciana. The first has neither onions nor tomatoes, while the second is the one above (give or take the guanciale).
"add some lobster meat to it"
...but never in Amatrici...
[quote] add some lobster meat to it [quote]
...but never in Amatrici...
add some lobster meat to it
yummo
This is a dish that was developed, named and is still served in Amatrice, over 100 miles from Rome.
It is traditionally made with guanciale, not bacon or pancetta.
Always finished with Pecorino Romano.
There is a hot debate, in Italy, about the use of tomatoes and onions in this recipe.
In Amatrice, they serve it "bianca" or "rossa" - with or without tomatoes - but never with onions.
Many think the dish named pasta alla gricia is the origin of this dish, made with pasta and a sauce made of guanciale and sausages sautéed in olive oil. Then seasoned with freshly ground black pepper, and mixed with Pecorino Romano cheese.
Only the Romans with their clipped dialect call this dish Alla Matriciana
This is one of my favorite pasta dishes. I make this often. I've only used olive oil and I always use garlic. I do make it with onion and I use marinara as well as the San Marzano tomatoes. I also use red pepper flakes instead of crushed dried chilies. I use about 3/4 lb of pancetta for a pound of bucatini.
While I am sure this recipe tastes lovely, for the sake of correctness I must say that neither butter nor onion belong in Matriciana. I have spoken with several Roman chefs about this (and I prepare this dish often)- the consensus is that, traditionally, this dish calls for garlic. It seems, however, that the addition of onion has really caught on. Also, in Rome, Matriciana is made with guanciale, not pancetta. Finally, the preparation of Bucatini alla Matriciana is one of those few pasta dishes that call for the cheese to be added to the dish before serving. Incorporate freshly grated pecorino when you bring the sauce and pasta together and combine. More pecorino should be added, as desired, by the diners.
I've made this recipe twice, and I love its simplicity and speed. Using San Marzano tomatoes makes a huge difference on the final product, especially considering that only a few ingredients go into this recipe. Also, I agree with itryalot above; I find that bacon trumps pancetta in this amatriciana.
We have tried both with pancetta and with bacon (hint of smokiness). We prefer bacon. Made this for Italians from Rome who said the bacon imparted more of the flavour than pancetta. We had our own throwdown!
Can't slurp bucatini, but it is authentic.
Never have or will use butter.
I don't use the butter at the beginning, but I do add a wodge of butter and a bit of grated parmesan when I mix the cooked pasta with the sauce and a bit of cooking water, and then let it all cook for about a minute more.
...Italians do eat pasta as a course on it's own between the antipasto and the secondi piatti, but North Americans tend to have pasta as a main dish. Whether you choose to serve it as a pasta course or a mian course would be up to you...
You list this as a "main". Shouldn't this be a starter? Italians always list pasta on the menu together with soup.
Made this for dinner tonight, and it was excellent. One thing I noticed: the noodles are impossible to slurp.
olive oil
olive oil