Sauce of the Day: Amatrice-Style Pasta Sauce

in Pasta

When watching Giada on the Food Network (we do that quite a bit ’round here – if you haven’t noticed, we do love us some Italian food), she’ll sometimes mention the regular-bacon-for-pancetta substitution in some of her recipes. Really?
I thought about it while I was frying up the pancetta for Osso Buco – the recipe I used specifically stated “Do not use regular bacon.”

I’m no a bacon hater – we’d be having a pile of thick-sliced bacon for breakfast this morning if I hadn’t forgotten to add it to my shopping list. BUT in honor of “Italian bacon,” I offer you a quarter-pound of pancetta in today’s Sauce of the Day!

Ingredients
1/4 lb Pancetta, cut into 1″ pieces
Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp red pepper, crushed
28 oz can tomatoes (unflavored and crushed)
2 Tbsp parsley, chopped
Grated Parmesan cheese

Fry pancetta until cooked to your preference (the crispier the better in our house!). Remove meat from pan and set aside. Add enough oil (~2 Tbsp) to the pan to give you about 1/4 cup total.

Saute the onion and crushed red pepper in the oil until onion is transparent. Add parsley and tomatoes, bring sauce to a boil.

Loosely cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and pour over pasta. Toss and serve garnished with cheese.

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