Guest Post: Bucatini all'Amatriciana

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Loyal readers might remember these two posts: #1 & #2 and my little brother is back for another round of pasta posts! I'm not much of an Italianophile but his pasta is pretty much the best I've ever had. That's right, I went there.

My brother's Italian food bible is the excellent and widely available Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan.

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion chopped fine
A 1/4 inch thick slice of pancetta, cut into strips 1/2 inch wide and 1 inch long (Pancetta is salt and spice cured like American bacon but isn't smoked. James also doubled the amount of pancetta and cut it into simple chunks)
1.5 cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, drained and cut up
Dried red chili pepper flakes to taste
Salt
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons freshly grated romano cheese
1 pound pasta (James used bucatini pasta. So fun to eat! It's kinda like spaghetti but hollow on the inside.)

1. Put oil, butter and onion in a sauce pan and heat over medium flame. Saute the onion until it is a pale gold then add pancetta. Cook for a minute. Add the tomatoes, chili flake and salt. Gently simmer for 25 minutes. Taste for seasoning.

2. Toss the cooked pasta with the sauce. Add cheeses, toss thoroughly and eat!

So easy and so good. Please try!