Tomatoes simmered with onion, garlic, and bacon, and spiced up with plenty of black pepper - a flavorful, easy-to-make pasta sauce perfect for a weeknight.
On Friday mornings, I take Spanish lessons with my sweet friend Lynda. Ligia, our fantastic, patient, Spanish teacher, is also a great cook and our conversations often turn to cooking. This recipe is one of many of her favorites and she wanted to make it for us. So last week after Spanish class we had a little cooking class and she taught us how to make this simple, but delicious pasta sauce.
Espagueti a la matrichana/Spaghetti all’Amatriciana is often made with pancetta, but Ligia prefers to make it with peppered bacon. She also likes her bacon very crisp and cooks it in the microwave to get it extra crispy. If tomatoes are in season, she likes to use fresh tomatoes.
Thanks Ligia for sharing this recipe. I can see why it’s one of your favorites. My family loved it too.
Ingredients
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 28 oz cans diced tomatoes
- Salt and pepper to taste (you want a strong pepper flavor)
- 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon, optional
- 8 oz slice bacon*, fried crisp and crumbled
- 1 lb spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
Directions
- In a medium frying pan, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until softened and browned. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper, and chicken bouillion. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes crush the tomatoes with a potato masher. Add crumbled bacon and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve over spaghetti.
- *Ligia prefers to use peppered bacon in this recipe.
More pasta recipes your might like:
Linguine in Lemon Cream Sauce, Barbara Bakes
Light Creamy Pesto Ravioli, Barbara Bakes
Late Night Pasta, Tracey’s Culinary Adventures
Tex-Mex Chicken & White Cheddar Spaghetti, Lauren’s Latest
Whole Wheat Spaghetti with a Slow Simmered Meat Sauce, For the Love of Cooking
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I love to bake, especially cookies, cakes, and pies. I’ll post my adventures in the kitchen, my favorite new recipes, as well as our family favorites.
Scrumptious! A wonderful cooking class.
Cheers,
Rosa
What a treat that must have been. Your own private cooking class. It looks like a scrumptious dish.
This sounds delicious! I will be giving it a try soon.
Sounds like a fun Spanish class!!
Good stuff… bacon and pasta
We haven’t had spaghetti in ages. I should add that to our menu soon.
What a fantastic dish–and how much fun must that class have been! My husband loves anything with bacon it in–and spaghetti is always a top-requested meal by my little boy–so we’ll have to give this recipe a try!
Lucky you~Spanish AND spaghetti!
The bacon sounds like the “secret” ingredient~yum! Muchas gracias, mi amiga!
He he, 2 classes for the price of 1 – that’s so nice
. And yummy! I have to try the trick of cooking bacon in microwave to make it crispier. Gracias!
looks heavenly! My mouth is watering
This sauce looks so good! I have been **craving** spaghetti lately… =)
I make a version of this and love the dish. I’m sure the peppered bacon would be a wonderful thing to try. How nice to learn new foods. I love when someone takes the time to teach me.
Mmmm,
Barbara, my daddy always uses bacon in his sauce. Now, I do, too! Xx
I still have not been able to create a spaghetti sauce that I love. I can’t wait to try this to see if it’s The One!
How is your Spanish going? You’ve reminded me that was on my to do list this year. Must get on with it! What a great way to finish the lesson.
Hi Claire! I’m not a very good Spanish student. I don’t study. What I really need is to spend a month in Mexico! Maybe a month on Cozumel would do the trick?!?
She is so cute! I love this sauce – bacon does make anything taste better, but this seriously sounds like a flavorful sauce. Plus it’s easy so even better! I have started trying to learn French….so I can live in the French countryside one of these days:-).
Thanks! Good luck with the French. Let me know when you move to France and I’ll come visit
There is nothing like a home-cooked pasta sauce from someone who can make it in their sleep, holding a 20lb anvil, if need be! How lucky you both are! I’ve made Amatriciana before, but I’m sure it’s not even close to hers. I have to try her recipe with the peppered bacon! It looks absolutely delicious!
I love the idea of bacon in this sauce. I can’t wait to try this.
Yum! I will be trying this dish with beef bacon, my dad cannot have pork in his meals. Anyhow, I am sure this will be a blast.
A most delightful story with an exceptional recipe, perfect! Cooking and culture are all intertwined with language making this a most appealing post! One of my favorites, Barb, well done!
This looks perfect for summer!
there is nothing like a recipe like this for a well seasoned women like that! It looks delicious and so comforting!
Delish! And I think I would go for the peppered bacon too.
I love peppered bacon so I bet this one’s great
I’ve never heard of Spaghetti Matrichana! Adding bacon or pancetta to tomato sauce sounds brilliant!
I hadn’t heard of this sauce before, can’t wait to give it a try! I think I’ll wait for fresh tomatoes….
yum!
This pasta looks yummy and with bacon it must be delicious.
How fun to have a private cooking class Barbara.
It is nice to have a private cooking class. Looks delicious and it is simple too.
What fun that must have been! Combining learning a new language with the language of delicious food! How long have you been learning Spanish mum?
xxx
I’ve been taking lessons for a couple of years now, but I don’t practice and I don’t study much, so I’m a slow learner. I do enjoy it though.
What a fun and educational class.
Wow! Looks scrumptious barb! Love the use of peppered bacon! Combining culture and food is a great idea. Surely this was a fun class!
That is awesome! I wish I could speak another language. My high school French is all but gone now. I was able to pick out words when I went to Paris. I think it is great to take lessons from a frienc and enjoy the time together. I can’t wait to try this recipe. I am actually trying to grow tomatoes this year so many I will have fresh ones to use! Bacon makes everything tasty. Hubby has the chicken with bacon rub on his list for me to try!
Good luck with the tomatoes – homegrown are so much tastier. How fun to know even a little French in Paris. I love that city.
I didn’t know you took Spanish lessons – how fun!! And I love this dish – one of my favorite ways to eat spaghetti!