Are you looking for an easy and very tasty recipe? Then you can choose the bucatini all'Amatriciana which - as the name implies - are born in Amatrice, but over time have become a typical first course of Rome in the surrounding area.

This is also one of the dishes in which interpretations are wasted the most, but the four typical ingredients of the original recipe are bucatini, tomato, bacon and pecorino.

We were talking about interpretations, right from the thickness of the strips of cheek lard. Or the way of frying them (without fat, with oil or lard) and of blending them (wine, vinegar or neither). Other differences are found in the type of pasta chosen, in the proportion with the meat, in the use of an initial onion sauté or not. Then there are those who use bacon instead of cheek lard.

The version we propose here is the one with bucatini, spaghetti or spaghettoni, peeled or fresh but ripe tomatoes, delicate and not too salty pecorino, chilli and dry white wine. The list and proportions of the ingredients for four people: 320 grams of bucatini, 300 grams of peeled tomatoes (4-5 ripe red tomatoes in season), 120 grams of thickly sliced ​​seasoned cheek lard, 50 grams of grated pecorino, 1 chilli, half a glass of dry and sour white wine, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper.

It takes 15 minutes for preparation and 25 for cooking. Let’s start with the preparation. Using fresh tomatoes, first of all you have to blanch them for a few moments in boiling salted water, then drain and cool them under running water. After peeling them, the seeds are removed and cut into fillets.

In a pan, heat the oil and add the cheek lard into strips a couple of centimeters long. When it starts to melt, add the chilli. Brown the cheek lard until it takes on color, deglaze with white wine. Let it evaporate, drain the cheek lard and keep it warm to one side. The previously prepared tomatoes or the crushed peeled tomatoes are placed in the same pan, added in salt and cooked for the cooking time of the pasta which, in the meantime, is in a saucepan of boiling salted water.

When we are almost at the end of cooking, add the cheek lard to the sauce and remove the chilli. Drain the pasta al dente and transfer it to the pan with the sauce. Off the heat, add the grated pecorino, season with fresh whipped pepper to taste. Mix well and serve immediately, adding more pecorino.

Do you have any other variations in the preparation of this dish?