Bucatini all'amatriciana

Bucatini all'amatriciana is not a purely Tuscan recipe, on the contrary, it is one of the most classic of Roman cuisine, but it is worth including it among our recipes, but above all ... try it!

the name comes from Amatrice, a town in Lazio; from here the farmers that travelled down to Rome with their produce, including fresh ewe's milk cheese (pecorino) and mountain pigs, also imported this way of cooking maccheroni and bucatini.

It is not a dish for anyone wanting to slim…but it's delicious!

Ingredients (for 4 people):

• 400 g of bucatini,
• 120 g of streaky bacon (orregular bacon, but only if you really can't find the streaky bacon!),
• 2 spoonfuls of olive oil,
• ½ onion, 250 g of tomatoes,
• ½ red chilli pepper,
• 100 g of pecorino cheese,
• salt

Peel the tomatoes, cut into small pieces and drain of all the water; cut the bacon into cubes and allow to brown in the oil.

When the fatty part becomes transparent, drain the cubes with a perforated ladle and put on one side; keep warm.

In the same oil used to brown the bacon, lightly fry the onion and chilli pepper chopped up finely; when these are a golden brown, add the pieces of tomato, a little salt and cook for about 10 minutes, then add the bacon.

Meanwhile, put a pot of salted water on to boil and cook the bucatini, draining when "al dente"

Pour the sauce over the bucatini and add plenty of grated pecorino cheese. Important: The pasta and the sauce must be ready at exactly the same time!

Bon Appetit!