Today place into the dish a lot of Italian tradition seasoned with a delicious red wine sauce!
The bucatini pasta is a traditional kind of spaghetti thicker than normal with a small hole into the center. A classic recipe with bucatini
is Amatriciana: tomato sauce and guanciale. Do you know what the guanciale is? It is a cured meat very famous in Italy but still little known and exported abroad, but recently it’s starting to appear on the delicatessen counters worldwide.
Today I suggest you a classic of Italian tradition: the “bucatini ubriachi” (drunken spaghetti). In this recipe, the wine will be poured almost all into the pan, so the quality of the wine must be very high! To finish the sauce, flavor it with diced guanciale (or pancetta if guanciale is not avaiable) and a generous sprinkling of ricotta salata and black pepper.
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- 14 oz (400 gr) bucatini
(traditional Italian thick spaghetti) - 9 oz (250 gr) cured guanciale (or pancetta)
- 2 leeks medium size
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 glasses of very good quality red wine (best if merlot)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp double concentrate tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- To taste ricotta salata cheese
- to taste ground black pepper
- to taste table salt
a few words about guanciale
Before starting I want to tell something about guanciale, one of the most important Italian cured meat but still little known outside of Italy.
A couple of day ago I was wandering among the counters of one of my favorite supermarkets here, in Columbus, Ohio, when I had a shot to the heart: On the top of the deli’s counter “it” was right there, his majesty the guanciale! Nothing strange if I was into a traditional market in Rome, but I must admit I find this “old friend”, here in the Midwest was a surprise! For the uninitiated, the guanciale is a cured meat made from pig’s cheek. If you have never been to Rome and its environs will have had first hand its importance: many recipes, as Bucatini all’Amatriciana or Pasta alla Gricia for example, are originally based on the Guanciale!
Despite the big difference in flavor and texture, in case you are not lucky like I was, you can replace the guanciale with the cured not-smoked Italian pancetta (although the Romans did not like it, remains the most painless way to replace the guanciale).
Now turn on the cookers,let’s prepare a tasty recipe with guanciale and red wine sauce!
First steps
First, cut out the rind of guanciale (or pancetta) and reduce the meat into strips about 1/4 inch thick. Also cut the white part of the leeks into thin rounds, finally peel and crush the garlic.
GUANCIALE INto the pan
Place a pot full of water to boil the bucatini on the heat. Meanwhile, start to cook the diced guanciale in a pan. Set the flame to keep cooking lively, without burning the meat: The fat of the meat will become translucent and start to liquefy. Continue cooking until the cubes are well toasted, then drain the guanciale, pass it on paper towels to eliminate the fat in excess then keep it covered warm.
sauteed Leeks and red wine sauce
Eliminate the excess fat, without cleaning it with water, from the pan where we toasted the bacon. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil and sauté the garlic, then add the leeks. When the vegetables are soft and translucent raise the heat and add the merlot (the wine must be of very good quality, because its flavor is predominant.).
Continue to cook for 5 minutes until the alcohol is evaporate, then add the tomato paste and ½ tsp of sugar. continue cooking for another 5 minutes, then move everything to the blender ad mix to obtain a smooth sauce.
BUCATINi in red wine sauce
Boil the bucatini in boiling lightly salted water for half the time specified in the package, then drain them conserving the cooking water. Take the pan used to cook the sauce and finish cooking the pasta, gradually adding the cooking water to release the starch, until they are “al dente”. Stir in the red wine sauce until to obtain a result soft and creamy. Finally, add the diced bacon and complete with a sprinkling of ricotta salata and ground black pepper before serving.
RED WINE BRAISED OCTOPUS with potatos and Concord grape sauce
PRINTABLE VERSION
- 14 oz (400 gr) bucatini (traditional Italian thick spaghetti)
- 9 oz (250 gr) cured guanciale (or pancetta)
- 2 leeks medium size
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 glasses of very good quality red wine (best if merlot)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp double concentrate tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- to taste ricotta salata cheese
- to taste ground black pepper
- to taste table salt
- A few words about guanciale
Before starting I want to tell something about guanciale, one of the most important Italian cured meat but still little known outside of Italy.
A couple of day ago I was wandering among the counters of one of my favorite supermarkets here, in Columbus, Ohio, when I had a shot to the heart: On the top of the deli’s counter “it” was right there, his majesty the guanciale! Nothing strange if I was into a traditional market in Rome, but I must admit I find this “old friend”, here in the Midwest was a surprise! For the uninitiated, the guanciale is a cured meat made from pig's cheek. If you have never been to Rome and its environs will have had first hand its importance: many recipes, as Bucatini all’Amatriciana or Pasta alla Gricia for example, are originally based on the Guanciale!
Despite the big difference in flavor and texture, in case you are not lucky like I was, you can replace the guanciale with the cured not-smoked Italian pancetta (although the Romans did not like it, remains the most painless way to replace the guanciale).
Now turn on the cookers,let’s prepare a tasty recipe with guanciale and red wine sauce! - First steps
First, cut out the rind of guanciale (or pancetta) and reduce the meat into strips about ¼ inch thick. Also cut the white part of the leeks into thin rounds, finally peel and crush the garlic. - Guanciale into the pan
Place a pot full of water to boil the bucatini on the heat. Meanwhile, start to cook the diced guanciale in a pan. Set the flame to keep cooking lively, without burning the meat: The fat of the meat will become translucent and start to liquefy. Continue cooking until the cubes are well toasted, then drain the guanciale, pass it on paper towels to eliminate the fat in excess then keep it covered warm. - Sauteed Leeks and red wine sauce
Eliminate the excess fat, without cleaning it with water, from the pan where we toasted the bacon. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil and sauté the garlic, then add the leeks. When the vegetables are soft and translucent raise the heat and add the merlot (the wine must be of very good quality, because its flavor is predominant.).
Continue to cook for 5 minutes until the alcohol is evaporate, then add the tomato paste and ½ tsp of sugar. continue cooking for another 5 minutes, then move everything to the blender ad mix to obtain a smooth sauce. - Bucatini in red wine sauce
Boil the pasta in boiling lightly salted water for half the time specified in the package, then drain them conserving the cooking water. Take the pan used to cook the sauce and finish cooking the pasta, gradually adding the cooking water to release the starch, until they are “al dente”. Stir in the red wine sauce until to obtain a result soft and creamy. Finally, add the diced bacon and complete with a sprinkling of ricotta salata and ground black pepper before serving. 
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