BUCATINI ALL’AMATRICIANA

Ingredients for 4:
350 gr ( 12 Oz) Bucatini Pasta
150 gr ( 5 Oz) “guanciale” (it is the pork cheek, not much salted and well aged. It can be replaced with a good “pancetta” – cured pork belly)
40 gr ( 1 ½ Oz) grated Pecorino Romano cheese
hot chili pepper
2-3 tomatoes
salt (optional)

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Procedure

Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for 15 second, then put them in a bowl wit cold water to stop the cooking. Peel, de-seed and cube them.
Cut the guanciale in thin strips and cook in a no sticky frying pan without anything, on a very low heat.
As the guanciale starts to melt, add the hot chilli pepper.
When most of the Guanciale is crispy, add the diced tomatoes. Cook for about 10 minutes. Turn off the sauce.
Taste before adding salt.
Drain the pasta and toss it in the sauce with the grated cheese.
The real difficulty is to find the rare and true Guanciale. The variations are allowed, but the recipe would not be the original one.

ingredients for Amatriciana: Holed spaghetti, hot chilli pepper, tomatoes, Guanciale.