Pasta alla Pomorola/ Amatriciana (SFAH)
This looks fairly unassuming
Tired of the typical spaghetti sauce? Maybe this is one you should try.
Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Difficulty: 1/5
Ingredient Availability: 4/5
This is another recipe that I’ve made before and felt that I needed to formally analyze. Samin Nosrat’s Salt Fat Acid Heat has a few pasta recipes and this one seems to be the most basic one. From my understanding, the Pomorola sauce is essentially just a tomato sauce. Of course, I usually like to make my pasta more of a meal by adding a protein to it, so I went with the Amatriciana Variation.
Key Ingredients and Omissions:
Maple Bacon sounds odd here, but it works
As I mentioned earlier, I made the Amatriciana version of this recipe, so I added some bacon and some extra onion and garlic. The recipe seems to prefer guanciale over bacon, which is harder to find, hence a point off in ingredient availability. The recipe doesn’t call for tomatoes with basil, but I accidentally picked up the cans that included it. At the same time, the recipe calls for fresh basil leaves or oregano later, so it shouldn’t be a big deal.
Tools:
Immersion blender/blender or food mill
Cooking Review:
Prep: 17 Minutes
To prep for this recipe, I just went ahead and sliced the onions and garlic. The tears dragged this process out a little bit.
Cooking Onions and Garlic: 22 minutes
After heating a large pot over high heat, I added enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. The sliced onions were added next and seasoned with salt before being cooked for 15 minutes with occasional stirring. A little more oil was added and the garlic was added next.
There’s some good onion flavor here
Cooking Tomatoes: 43 Minutes
Before the garlic took on any color, the tomatoes, which I had transferred to a bowl and crushed by hand with a little additional water, were added to the pot and broken up a little more with the wooden spatula. It took about 13 minutes for this to come to a boil. I added the dried oregano and salt, then reduced the heat so that the sauce would simmer for 23 minutes. The simmer was then increased and the olive oil was stirred in and left to emulsify for about 3 minutes. I then took the sauce off of the heat and used my hand blender to puree the sauce. At this point, the Pomorola Sauce is complete.
Amatriciana Variation: 20 Minutes
To make this variation, I heated some olive oil in a pan and added a diced onion, which had been cut along with some minced garlic and bacon while waiting during previous steps. The onion was seasoned with salt and left to cook for 7 minutes. I added the bacon pieces and let them cook for 9 minutes. Garlic and 2 cups of the Pomorola sauce was added next and allowed to simmer for 2 minutes. Finally, I added a full pound of cooked spaghetti to the sauce, tossing to coat. I started cooking the pasta while the onion for this part was cooking, so make sure your water is boiling before you start this step.
Analysis:
Despite there being no specific salt measurements in this recipe, this pasta was very well seasoned. It is a great recipe to practice tasting your food and seasoning to taste, as there really isn’t anything to worry about getting sick from. The tomato flavor is nice and is complimented from the caramelized sweetness from the onion, as well as the garlic flavors. I could taste the bacon in every bite even though actual pieces weren’t always present. Even without the variation, this sauce is pretty good. It coats the pasta well and doesn’t need to be pureed super smooth to feel smooth. Everything in this sauce comes together to be greater than the individual piece. The only complaints I have is that the Amatriciana variation could use some more meat and the fact that you need a blender or food mill to make it. If you have access to one of those tools, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you make this recipe. I’m giving it a 9/10. It’s a easy, elevated tomato sauce.
