all'amatriciana

Wow. I knocked this one out of the park.

You totally cannot tell by this picture just how great this pasta sauce turned out. Spectacular.

I started by needing to make something rather quick for just the two of us and didn't want to go to the grocery store again... so I made a quick check of the pantry and freezer and decided on a jar of Arrabiata sauce (spicy red pepper and tomato sauce) and a pound of bacon.

I had a pound of Oscar Mayer Natural Smoked Uncured bacon in the freezer so I cubed it and fried it. I realize that it should have been hog jowls or pancetta or something equally gourmet but this is what I had ok?! Plus no nitrates or nitrites or sulfites or other ites and for someone with an allergy to all of the above this is a bonus. Believe me.

Chopped a half of a sweet onion I had in the fridge.

Sauted the onion in bacon grease (don't ya love it??) and then added the jar of Arrabiata AND

A half cup of the Chateau Ste. Michelle Reisling (the number one selling American Riesling btw that I bought a bottle of at Costco for the same price you pay for an entire glass in restaurants).

And effectively put back in the -ites that I dodged with the bacon... sigh.

I let it simmer while I cooked the rigatoni which requires another post entirely dedicated to how much my stove SUCKS... then mixed the cooked pasta into the sauce and voila!

It was smoky and bacon-y and the wine was perfect in it. That's it. We ate it all.