Cooking With Mario Minelli | Rigatoni Amatriciana

Here’s the history of this classic Roman dish:
According to Italymagazine.com, Amatriciana is one of Italy’s most-famous pasta dishes, but its original name isn’t amatriciana. It was originally known as griscia, derived from Grisciano, a town near Accumoli, wherein shepherds would toss their pasta was with guanciale (cured pork jowl) and pecorino cheese. The townspeople of nearby Amatrice then added tomato sauce to this practice, which gave a new name to this dish – Amatriciana, which is sometimes simply referred to as ‘Matriciana.

Watch Mario make his version of Rigatoni Amatriciana!

Mario’s Rigatoni All’ Amatriciana

Ingredients (Gli Ingredienti)

· 1 medium onion

· 1 can whole peeled Italian style tomatoes

· 1 lb. thick-cut hickory-smoked bacon

· ¾ cup of white wine

· 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

· 1 tsp. freshly-ground black pepper

· Pinch of salt

· First, cut up the bacon into 1-inch pieces, and sauté in a deep pan or pot.

· Chop or dice onion

· Continue to sauté bacon

· Squeeze/crush the peeled tomatoes by hand or use an immersion blender

· Add a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and onion to the bacon, and continue sautéing

· Grind in the fresh black pepper and add a pinch of salt

· Spoon out some of the excess bacon fat in the pan (about 3-5 tablespoons)

· Add ¾ cup of white wine and deglaze the pan

· Finally, add the tomatoes, bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes. (Don’t forget to stir the sauce as it’s simmering.)

· Serve over rigatoni and top with your favorite grated cheese. (Mario’s favorite is Parmigiano Reggiano.)

Find other great variations of this classic Italian recipe:

https://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/815825039/rigatoni-all-amatriciana-margarita/

Pasta Amatriciana

The story behind Matriciana (or Amatriciana)