A fast tomato sauce has always been one of my favorites when it comes to pasta. I know, it's so simple you wouldn't think much of it, but the freshness of the ingredients make this type of dish amazing. An amatriciana sauce makes your simple and quick tomato sauce just a little extra special. You know why? The spiciness brings out the excellent flavor….and the best part, the pancetta! You can taste the juiciness from the pancetta with every bite! I swear, pasta amatriciana is just amazing, make it right now.

I had cherry tomatoes at home so I chopped these. You can chop some Roma (plum) tomatoes or even use a can of diced or crushed tomatoes if you rather use that. Fresh tomatoes are best though :)

Ingredients

• 1 lb. rigatoni or penne

• 2 cartons of cherry tomatoes, cut in half

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1/4 - 1/2 cup sweet onion or shallots, diced

• handful fresh parsley, chopped

• crushed red pepper flakes or fresh red chili pepper

• 3-4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

• 1/2 lb. pancetta, diced or 1 pack of the pre-diced Boar's Head packaged pancetta

• salt and pepper

• grated pecorino cheese

Instructions

1. Start boiling the water for the pasta.

2. Using a large pan, heat the olive oil then add the hot pepper, diced onions and pancetta. Cook on medium to medium low for at least 5 or so minutes until you cook the pancetta. The pancetta won’t look pink anymore and the onions will now be translucent.

3. Now stir in the garlic and half the parsley, cook for another minute or so.

4. Add the tomatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook and stir occasionally until the tomatoes become soft, about 10-15 minutes. Taste occasionally and add salt if you feel the tomatoes need more flavor. The consistency of the tomatoes should be soft enough where you can start crushing them. At this point, your tomatoes are finished cooking, lower heat to keep warm.

5. Your pasta should be cooking as well. Once the pasta is done, keep a cup of the pasta water before draining. Add a few spoonfuls of the pasta water to the tomato sauce to thin it out a little, stir.

6. Drain pasta and add to the large sauce pan. Mix together until well combined.

7. Serve immediately and top with cheese and the extra sprinkles of chopped fresh parsley.

We’d love to see your finished product! Post your picture on Instagram, tag us @danimade.kitchen and hashtag it #danimade.