LivingItalian

Passport & Plate - Uncle Dominick's Perciatelli

Italy | Friday, February 14, 2014 | 6 photos

Ingredients
1 pound (500 grams) imported Italian Perciatelli or Bucatini pasta (Note: Perciatelli is the Neapolitan name for Bucatini pasta)

1 six-ounce can (18 cl.) imported Italian tomato paste (concentrato di pomodoro)

3 medium or 2 large yellow onions

2 large garlic cloves, sliced thin

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (peperoncino)

1/2 teaspoon sugar

3/4 cup (18 cl.) extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt and ground black pepper

 

How to prepare this recipe
Peel and slice the onion into rings. Separate the onion rings into the metal bowl and toss with a pinch of salt. (Photo #2).

Fill the pasta pot with cold water, cover and place on high heat to boil.

Add ¾ cup of olive oil to the skillet over medium high heat. When the oil is very hot you will see a wisp of smoke, carefully add the sliced onions.

Sauté the onions in the skillet, tossing them frequently to prevent burning. Once the onions are a crisp and golden brown, remove them to the paper towels to drain off any excess oil. Cover them to keep warm. (Photo #3)
Reduce the heat under the skillet to medium, add the sliced garlic and cook until slightly browned. Remove the browned garlic from the oil and place on the paper towel to drain off excess oil.

Add the tomato paste to the skillet and stir continuously with the wooden spoon scraping the bottom of the skillet to breakdown the paste as it darkens and combines with the olive oil to form a sauce. Add in the sugar and peperoncino flakes and continue cooking.

Once the tomato paste, sugar, peperoncino and olive oil produce a uniform sauce, remove from the heat and cover to keep warm. Do not over cook the sauce or it will form small gummy beads. (Photo #4)

Salt the boiling water and drop the Perciatelli (Bucatini). Cook for 12 minutes (not quite done).

Raise the heat under the sauce to medium, drain the pasta and quickly toss the perciatelli into the skillet. Cook for another 2 or 3 minutes tossing the pasta continuously until it is al dente. Turn off the heat. (Photo #5)

Transfer the pasta into warmed bowls, season with a little black pepper, optional additional red pepper flakes and drizzle a little fresh olive oil over the finished pasta, Garnish with the sautéed the onions and garlic. Serve immediately. (Photo #6)

 

The story behind this recipe
Part of my exploration of Italian regional cultures has been connecting the dots between Italy's history, food and traditions with my immigrant relatives' lives. They were not educated people but they understood the importance of handing down and sharing their heritage. My inheritance is our family's culinary traditions but I've never this recipe in any Italian cookbook. I'm sure there are long-forgotten recipes to be discovered. It wasn't unusual for meals at my grandparents' house to began with six people and quickly became twelve or more with the unannounced arrival of other relatives. In true Italian tradition, they arrived with more food, wine and pastry boxes and to help with the cooking. Often it was my grandmother's cousin, Uncle Dominick, who would take over the stove, put a big pot of water on to boil and begin preparing a simple sauce only he knew how to make. I discovered that Bucatini and Perciatelli are different names for the same pasta. After years of experimenting I learned the secrets of Uncle Dominick's Perciatelli. I developed the cooking techniques that, when executed correctly, balance the flavors and textures of onions, tomato paste, olive oil and crushed red pepper to create a perfect emulsion to dress the paste. Cooked too little and they don't combine into the proper consistency; cooked too much and they form gummy little beads. But done correctly the final sauce perfectly coats the perciatelli. Preparing this dish transports me back in time to my grandparents' table where Uncle Dominick's Perciatelli was the perfect dish for our meatless Friday night dinners. All of my immigrant relatives are gone now and only a few of their recipes were ever written down. But re-creating those authentic recipes keeps me connected to my heritage and to the people who brought Italy's regional cultures to America. Returning to authentic regional recipes is just one more way to keep those precious connections alive and to share future generations.