I went to a cooking class to try and improve my cooking skills, but it was a proposal to get married.
In my early 20s I tried recipes and got tired of flattening them so I decided to take a cooking class. We couldn’t afford to eat out every night, but we wanted what we made in the kitchen tasted as good as what we could find in the restaurant.
The first cooking class I ever filmed was the Easy Pasta and Sauce demonstration class taught by the late Jill Prescott. Jill explained to my class the importance of using high quality materials. One of the recipes she taught me was the classic Amatriciana sauce.
Jill suggested using Pancetta if he couldn’t find Ganciare, a traditional cured Italian pork product in his dishes, but it could be a bit of a hunt – and I started making Pancetta versions regularly. Soon, I made it for my sister Julie and she told me, “Janet, one day you’ll make your husband very happy.”
Julie is sometimes a little visionary. She predicted that my son would become a jock before he left my womb. Later that year, and after making pasta amatriciana for me, perhaps dozens of times, I met an architect named Kyle. After he took me to lunch in crepely, France and was impressed, we were talking for so long that dinner time was rolling.
I looked into the fridge. I had the ingredients on hand to make all the pasta amatriciana so I whipped the batch. “It sealed the deal,” my husband told me later.
Since then, I’ve been making “Marry Me Pasta.” My husband and son love it because it tastes good and I love it.
Use pre-drawn pancetta
Guanciale is a traditional pork used in Amatriciana, but pancetta is easy to find. I usually refill a 4-ounce package of diced pancetta from the deli section every time I go to the grocery store.
I get two packages in the freezer, so on days when I want a homemade one but don’t want to spend an hour in the kitchen, I can whip this sauce with a can of crushed tomatoes, onions, wine and crushed red chili peppers.
Simply recipes/Alexandra Scheitzmann
How to make my marriage pasta
To create 4-6 servings you need:
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil or bacon grease (8 oz) diced 1 cup pancetta 1 medium yellow or white onion, 12 oz angel hair pasta (28 oz) crushed tomato 2 cups dried red wine 1 cup crushed sugar powder sugar chicken Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese black pepper, taste
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile, in a large deep frying pan or brazer, heat the oil over high heat for 1-2 minutes, then add diced pancetta. Stir frequently until pancetta is rendered and starts to crisp slightly.
Add the onions and fry high, stirring frequently for 3-5 minutes. Simmer with low heat, stirring occasionally until the pancetta is crispy and the onions are slightly caramelized.
By this point, the water should be boiling. Turn the pasta towards the pan and cook for 2-5 minutes according to the instructions on the al dente package. Drain pasta.
Meanwhile, add tomatoes, wine, sugar, red chili flakes, salt and pepper to the pancetta and onions. Cook with medium heat and stirring occasionally, 5-10 minutes until the wine is reduced and the sauce is thick. The pasta and sauce should be ready at about the same time.
Add drained pasta to the sauce and toss over low heat until well coated. Serve with grated Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
Simply recipes/Alexandra Scheitzmann
How to personalize this pasta
If that’s what I have in my hand I use crushed tomatoes from Aldi, but crushed tomatoes imported from my favorite Italian grocery store notch up this recipe. My family loves mushrooms so I sometimes add chopped mushrooms while frying onions. If fresh basil or parsley is grown in a summer herb garden, add a handful too. The way you decided to personalize it, this pasta deserves a marriage proposal.
