Bucatini all'Amatriciana alla Robert Sietsema Recipe
Adapted from Robert Sietsema
When in a pinch, Village Voice restaurant critic Robert Sietsema cooks pasta with tomato sauce and cured pork guanciale for dinner. It’s his variation on amatriciana sauce from the region of Lazio in Italy, though instead of red pepper flakes he adds a touch of paprika. You can watch him make it in his My Go-To Dish video for CHOW.
What to buy: Bucatini looks like spaghetti but is slightly thicker and has a hole running through the center. If you can’t find bucatini, you can use spaghetti or linguine. Keep in mind, though, that the cooking times of these pastas will vary slightly from the timing below.
INGREDIENTS
- Salt
- 1 (4-ounce) piece guanciale, cut into 1-by-1/4-by-1/4-inch pieces (pancetta or bacon can be substituted)
- 3/4 cup finely chopped onion (about 1 small)
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes in tomato purée
- 1/2 teaspoon honey (optional)
- Paprika (optional)
- 1 pound bucatini
- 1 cup loosely packed, finely grated 18-month-old Parmesan cheese, grated on the small holes of a box grater (about 3 1/2 ounces)
- 1 bunch basil leaves, for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
- Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil.
- Heat a large frying pan over high heat. When the pan is hot, reduce the heat to medium, add the guanciale, and cook until the fat is translucent (reduce the heat further it if smokes too much), about 4 minutes. Add the onion and olive oil and sauté until the onion is translucent but not browned, about 4 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until the alcohol has burned off and the wine has reduced by about half, about 2 1/2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and purée, bring to a boil, then keep at a lively simmer until the sauce has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes. Taste and season with salt, honey (if using), and paprika (if using) as needed.
- Meanwhile, add the bucatini to the boiling water, stir, and boil until al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain, add to the sauce, and toss until the pasta is well coated, about 2 minutes.
- Divide the pasta among individual bowls. Top each with a heap of Parmesan and 3 to 4 whole basil leaves, then serve.
Say what you will about ingredients and technique, folks, but try actually making the dish, too. It's delicious no matter what you want to call it. I subbed bacon ends and pieces for the guanciale and used 10 month old Parmesan and it still came out great. Also really tasty as a leftover dish.
I agree that the paprika is completely nuts - as is the use of parmigiano. The acidity of the tomatoes kills the flavor of the cheese (use pecorino romano instead). But don't knock honey in the sauce. Canned tomatoes will get more acidic the longer they are in their cans, and the honey balances out the sauce without making it cloyingly sweet.
Its very similar to my amatriciana recipe - I use bacon instead of guanciale (which is harder to find). From what I understand, though, the use of onions in an amatriciana is not traditional.
Looks very tasty and easy to prepare. Perfect for a weekday!
Should change the name; this is not amatriciana.
That's a good story, Paulj. Thanks for the link.
I have now seen the video and am more appalled than I was before. To me, the dish he prepared looked really awful, and he never said what cheese he was using, though presumably (given the written recipe) parmigiano, which, as I've said, is a major deviation from tradition. Paprika for color? If he was using decent tomatoes, it wouldn’t occur to him to alter the color. And honey? Again, with...+READ
I have now seen the video and am more appalled than I was before. To me, the dish he prepared looked really awful, and he never said what cheese he was using, though presumably (given the written recipe) parmigiano, which, as I've said, is a major deviation from tradition. Paprika for color? If he was using decent tomatoes, it wouldn’t occur to him to alter the color. And honey? Again, with decent tomatoes and onions (no, you don't want "skanky" onions; if anything, you want a small amount of sweet onion, but the "official" recipe has none at all), the dish is naturally sweet. Even cooks who use wine in this dish don't use that much -- just a splash in the belief that it "cuts the grease". And the quantity of gloppy sauce is way exaggerated, but at least he "justifies" that by saying they do something else in Rome but that is his preference.
Note to paulj: yes, onion is a point of debate, but only because the rest is taken for granted. And in any case, the quantity of onion used, when used at all, is a fraction of what Sietsema recommends.-COLLAPSE
Take a look at the video of the author making this dish. He gives reasons why he adds paprika (for color) and honey.
I thought (based on a No Reservations episode and a cookbook by M Scicolone) that the real point of contention is whether Amatrice should have onions or not.
Here's NY Times article about the debates over the true version (particularly between Amatrice and Rome.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/dining/16ital.html?_r=1
Re: mbfant
"Chaos" is a very strong term. Using it as you have is much more of a stretch, ironically, than calling this recipe Amatriciana. See how easy it is to get all worked up about semantics?
They did change the name - '...Alla Robert Sietsema' for the title (which already implies that there may be some breaks from tradition), and stated immediately in the ensuing text that this is a...+READ
Re: mbfant
"Chaos" is a very strong term. Using it as you have is much more of a stretch, ironically, than calling this recipe Amatriciana. See how easy it is to get all worked up about semantics?
They did change the name - '...Alla Robert Sietsema' for the title (which already implies that there may be some breaks from tradition), and stated immediately in the ensuing text that this is a variation off of traditional Ammtriciana. In plain English. That's pretty clear in my book.
What is it that people object to here - playing off traditional recipes, experimenting? Or citing your inspiration when you do it? I would argue that both are good things.
Thanks anyway, all you weird semantics-obsessed traditionalists, for explaining Amatriciana in such clear (though strict) terms to this untraveled foodie.-COLLAPSE
Put me down in the camp of those who object. The only resemblance between this recipe and Bucatini all'Amatriciana is the bucatini. Parmigiano, no. Paprika, no. Honey, beyond no.
Not to be excessively pedantic, but names mean something. Call it Bucatini with Guanciale in Tomato Sauce or some such.
Re: cowboyardee
Sure, on the scale of things it's not that important what kind of cheese he uses, but amatriciana has a specific association with a specific place, contained in its name (Amatrice), and that name carries with it a long tradition of sheep's milk cheeses which still today is defended by the people of Amatrice. Not only that, but I think the use of parmigiano is a radical departure...+READ
Re: cowboyardee
Sure, on the scale of things it's not that important what kind of cheese he uses, but amatriciana has a specific association with a specific place, contained in its name (Amatrice), and that name carries with it a long tradition of sheep's milk cheeses which still today is defended by the people of Amatrice. Not only that, but I think the use of parmigiano is a radical departure from what anyone acquainted with the dish expects from the name amatriciana, and that the name of the new dish should thus be changed or altered in some way as a warning. If anything can mean anything because somebody invents a variation, chaos results. And Italian food is imaginative but not chaotic.-COLLAPSE
As someone not familiar with Amatriciana, it was completely obvious to me while reading this recipe that this was inspired by Amatriciana, not an attempt at a faithful rendition of it.
What's wrong with that?
The whole point of an amatriciana sauce is to be spicy. This is more of a quick tomato sauce with guanciale..
I'm another one with mbfant. Mr. Eaty, you might consider that certain terms have certain meanings, not anything you consider it to be. His suggestion of calling it "bucatini with tomato and guanciale alla Sietsema," or "bucatini al modo mio" seem reasonable to me.
Suppose I call a slice of crusty french bread slathered with tomato ketchup and sprinkled with cheetos and bacon bits my variation...+READ
I'm another one with mbfant. Mr. Eaty, you might consider that certain terms have certain meanings, not anything you consider it to be. His suggestion of calling it "bucatini with tomato and guanciale alla Sietsema," or "bucatini al modo mio" seem reasonable to me.
Suppose I call a slice of crusty french bread slathered with tomato ketchup and sprinkled with cheetos and bacon bits my variation on Neapolitan Pizza?-COLLAPSE
I'd kind of side with mbfant. As I read the recipe, it didn't impress me as Amaticiana.
And I would imagine the dish varies slightly at every table in Amatrice as well.
"Believe me, the people of Amatrice do not consider their recipe a point of departure for individual expression."
That's very nice for the people of Amatrice but in this case their recipe obviously was a point of departure for individual expression. You're not arguing for authenticity here, you're arguing for some weird charade where Robert Sietsema is not allowed to acknowledge that fact...+READ
"Believe me, the people of Amatrice do not consider their recipe a point of departure for individual expression."
That's very nice for the people of Amatrice but in this case their recipe obviously was a point of departure for individual expression. You're not arguing for authenticity here, you're arguing for some weird charade where Robert Sietsema is not allowed to acknowledge that fact because some people might be unhappy with it. That's just silly.-COLLAPSE
Of course it is, and he can vary it all he likes, but he should call it "bucatini with tomato and guanciale alla Sietsema," or "bucatini al modo mio," not amatriciana, in that he has changed one of its basic, and characterizing, ingredients. Believe me, the people of Amatrice do not consider their recipe a point of departure for individual expression.
"It’s his variation on amatriciana sauce"
All the anti-authenticity people will be accusing me of being the food-police, but if you use parmigiano, you shouldn't call it amatriciana. Amatriciana is made with pecorino, period. I'm not even going to say anything about the paprika and honey. Wine, olive oil, chile, and onion are common variations, but in Amatrice they don't use them. Likewise basil, which is not a common variation. And...+READ
All the anti-authenticity people will be accusing me of being the food-police, but if you use parmigiano, you shouldn't call it amatriciana. Amatriciana is made with pecorino, period. I'm not even going to say anything about the paprika and honey. Wine, olive oil, chile, and onion are common variations, but in Amatrice they don't use them. Likewise basil, which is not a common variation. And tomato purée isn't the greatest either. Pelati would be better, and the sauce shouldn't be too red.-COLLAPSE