Plate du Jour

I think it’s becoming kind of clear that anytime I’m busy or lazy I go for pasta. I can’t deny it. This time it was Saturday evening and food wise of course I  had definitely more ambitious plans. It turned out though, that I had a few errands to run, and there are always so many things to do on Saturday, right?! Pasta all’amatriciana is probably one o the easiest to make ever, and I’m sure most of you know this recipe. I modified it a little bit with all these years, and I do not use parmesan cheese, but please do if you feel like. Also I have to tell you, that online you will see pasta all’amatriciana  recommended mostly with bucatini (this pasta is great with almost each kind of tomato sauce in general), but many of my Italian friends would serve it with penne as well. I made it with linguine this time, and it was also pasta integrale- dark pasta, which is one of my favorites. So I would say, just go for whatever you have at home. In the end the great thing about making pasta is, that it’s easy and quick to prepare and always so handy when you have no time to cook. The pictures are of course the result of my recent experimental photo sessions. Too busy to cook, but for this I had time ha?… :-).

Ingredients

Makes 3 servings, preparation time – around 15 min, cooking time- not more than 30 minutes

1. 2-3 onions- medium sized
2. 2-3 slices of bacon/lard
3. 2 cloves of garlic
4. 300 g of cherry tomatoes
5. 400 ml of tomato juice
6. salt and black pepper
7. a few leaves of fresh basil- I have it at home almost all the time so I used it, but it’s optional
8. 300-400 g of pasta
9. olive oil- 2-3 tablespoons

Method

Chop finely the onions and garlic. Slice bacon and cut in halves cherry tomatoes.

In a big iron skillet heat the olive oil and add bacon. Fry it for a few minutes, stir occasionally. Add cherry tomatoes and onions and fry for another 10 minutes, until you see that that tomatoes are tender. Add tomato juice and basil and cook everything on a low fire for another 20-25 minutes, until the sauce thickens and you can see that it’s slightly reduced. Of course don’t forget to add some salt and black pepper.

When the sauce is ready, just leave it aside and boil some water for pasta. Cook the pasta as long as required, and once ready just combine it carefully with the sauce. I hope you will enjoy it. Oh and the last thing I should mention- I actually add some red wine to the sauce! It’s soooo much nicer! Enjoy 🙂