Penne Amatrigiana
Awesome Penne dish I picked up while living in Rhode Island and found it to be amazing, hope you like it just as much.
Awesome Penne dish I picked up while living in Rhode Island and found it to be amazing, hope you like it just as much.
- Carbohydrate 36.971648 g
- Cholesterol 109.586 mg
- Fat 44.725132 g
- Fiber 1.56912001447678 g
- Protein 21.765456 g
- Saturated Fat 15.38114 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (269g)
- Sodium 1395.73 mg
- Sugar 35.4025279855232 g
- Trans Fat 5.10784199999999 g
- Calories 641 calories
Step-by-step
- Cook pasta according to directions in large pan
- Drain well. Put pasta back in pan.
- Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and mix well. Keep warm.
- Meanwhile, cook chopped bacon in large skillet until almost done, draining grease as needed.
- Sprinkle with red pepper flakes. Cook until bacon is done. Drain if needed.
- Add wine to bacon. Cook 3-4 minutes or until wine has cooked off
- Add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Heat through
- Add tomato/bacon mixture to pasta. Mix well
- Heat if necessary
- Serve
Bacon carries the primary weight of this dish, providing both the rendering fat necessary to fry the aromatics and the core protein foundation. Rendering cured pork belly slowly over medium-low heat extracts maximum fat without burning the meat fibers, yielding crisp lardons that retain a pleasant chew. Maintaining precise control over the skillet temperature prevents the rendered fat from smoking excessively, keeping the flavor clean rather than acrid.
Deglazing the skillet with red cooking wine requires a full three to four minutes of boiling to cook off harsh alcohol notes, leaving behind only the concentrated acidity needed to balance the heavy pork fat. Standard dry table wines substitute cleanly at a one-to-one ratio if cooking wine is unavailable, though unsalted varieties allow better sodium control throughout the sauce reduction process. Canned tomato sauce and diced tomatoes combine directly with the reduced wine and pork drippings, thickening into a cohesive cling that coats tubular pasta efficiently.
Mixing shredded parmesan directly into the drained penne while the pasta remains hot ensures the cheese melts completely into a clinging starch matrix rather than clumping into oily pockets. Boxed penne cooks reliably within nine to eleven minutes in boiling salted water, maintaining an al dente bite that resists breaking down when tossed aggressively with heavy meat sauces. Red pepper flakes bloom directly in the hot bacon fat, infusing capsaicin throughout the pan before the tomatoes dilute the heat.
Leftovers store safely in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days, though the pasta will continue absorbing moisture and softening. Reheating refrigerated portions requires a splash of water and gentle stovetop stirring over medium-low heat to loosen the sauce without scorching the dairy solids.
