Walking down the pasta sauce aisle at a grocery store morphs me from mild-mannered Maggie to a stuttering raving maniac. I mean, have you read the labels? Dio mio, reading the ingredients on a jar of “Carbonara sauce” or “Alfredo sauce” or “Meat Sauce” makes me break out into the Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor. The salt, cholesterol, the pure gunk in these products is a crime against Italian cooking. And, Madonna! You’re paying so much for junk.
The truth: In Italy, most pasta sauces are made fresh and fast from tomatoes, herbs, cream, butter, and olive oil, with some pork product, perhaps. A little seafood, a splash of wine, some garlic, and good cheese.
Apart from a classic Bolognese sauce, or your Nonna’s Sunday Gravy, you’re never tending a pot for an afternoon. That mucous-like mixture bottled as “Alfredo” can be turned out in a trice with three main ingredients: butter, cheese and cream. You’re not saving any money buying the bottle, and you’re eating sad, salty crap.
Whew. That felt good. Now let’s channel that classic movie “Roman Holiday,” I’ll pretend that I’m the Audrey Hepburn princess with the chic elfin haircut, and you can be Gregory Peck. I’ll wrap my arms around you and we’ll zip around
PASTA ALL’AMATRICIANA
Ingredients
1/4 pound bacon, sliced into half inch slivers
3 cups canned tomatoes (about a 28-ounce can)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced thin
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes –I like a full teaspoon, but it’s to your taste.
1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese.
1 pound pasta—a tubular shape like rotini or rigatoni or bucantini
Preparation
1. Heat oil in a skillet. Add onion and garlic, and sauté over medium heat until transparent. Add bacon and sauté until barely beginning to brown.
2. Add the tomatoes, and mash them up with a big spoon or potato masher. Cook about 15 minutes, until sauce has become concentrated. Add the chili flakes and one tablespoon of the cheese. The sauce is finished—you can turn off the heat.
3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook to al dente—check the package for the timing. Drain the pasta, add it to the skillet, and let it bubble away for a couple of minutes.
Place it in your serving bowl, top with the remaining cheese, and serve it forth.
