O Captain! My Captain! You have once again guided us to shore safely and content. With simple ingredients and mentoring you've allowed us to enjoy another delicious meal. Let us begin with the
Parozzo - Chocolate Cake from Abruzzo (page 466). Angela was working late and Mario and I decided that it would be best to start with the cake and then move on to the main course. This is the first time that either of us have attempted to make a cake, much less a cake from scratch! We slipped on our orange Crocs, rolled up our sleeves, took a deep breath and jumped in.
The recipe was simple enough and we moved along swiftly. It took us about an hour to prep, bake and glaze the cake. We were proud of what we accomplished and could only hope that it tasted as good as it looked (although we could use some work on our glazing skills).
With the cake done and Angela on her way home, Mojo and I moved on to the
Bucatini all'Amatriciana - Bucatini with Bacon and Tomato (page 185).
Bucatini is a thick spaghetti-like pasta with a hole running through the center. The name comes from Italian:
buco, meaning "hole", and
bucato meaning "pierced". The recipe also calls for 12 oz of
Guanciale - the "bacon" in the English translation - a salt-cured and dried meat from a hog's jowl. Although our captain provided us with a recipe for
guanciale, I was able to purchase it and the
bucatini from an Italian market in Chelsea Market. Out of respect to the process of making
guanciale below you will find Mario's recipe.
GUANCIALE
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup salt
15 black peppercorns
4 sprigs thyme, leaves only
2 pounds hog jowls
1. Combine the sugar, salt, peppercorns, and thyme leaves in a small bowl. Put the hog jowls in a nonreactive casserole and coat with the mixture, rubbing gently. Cover and refrigerate for 5 to 7 days.
2. Remove the cheeks from the casserole and hang them, using butcher's twine, in the refrigerator for at least 3 weeks, The cheeks should be firm and dry, with a slight give. Slice and use like bacon or pancetta; refrigerated, it keeps for weeks.
After reading this recipe I quickly realized the significance of what this ingredient would bring to the dish. The kitchen exploded with aroma as soon as I opened the air sealed package, I thinly sliced it and looked forward to tasting this newly discovered meat.
We prepared the pasta as the
guanciale, red onions and garlic cooked over low heat. After the
guanciale had rendered most of its fat, we drained it and as per our captains orders kept 1/4 cup for this morning's eggs. We added the tomato sauce and then combined all the ingredients.
Everything was delicious and Mariesa accepted our apology for the snapper incident with umm umm umms! As ridiculous as this may sound - it truly tasted Italian. The
Bucatini all'Amatriciana was so rich and full of flavor we can honestly say that we now realize what we have been missing out on all these years. How can we ever go back to using a canned spaghetti sauce? Or better yet, why would we!
Ciao!
Mario and Mario
