One of my favorite places to go for breakfast is The Florentine in Chicago – mostly because of their over easy eggs served on top of a spicy pancetta and tomato sauce with grilled sourdough bread slices on the side.
Absolute heaven.
So, imagine my great pleasure at finding a recipe for this sauce, kindly provided by Debi Mazar and Gabriele Corcos from The Food Network, and, it is every bit as tasty as it is simple to toss together?!?
For this test run, I used air fried ravioli to dip in the sauce, but I am gonna come back with eggs and sourdough slices soon.
INGREDIENTS
•2 (14.5 oz) cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
•1 tbsp Sherry Peppers Sauce*
•2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
•1/4 pound pancetta, diced
•3 cloves garlic, chopped
•1 tsp red pepper flakes
•6 fresh basil leaves, torn
•1/2 tsp Seasoned Salt
•1/2 tsp black pepper
•1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper
•1 tbsp sugar
•1 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
•Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
*No Sherry Peppers Sauce? No Problem! Simply add a bit of decent sherry 
(none of that “cooking” stuff) and a dash or three of your fave hot sauce, to taste.
Purée the tomatoes with the Sherry Peppers sauce in a blender – or with an immersion blender – until smooth.
Add the olive oil to a pan over medium high heat, then add the pancetta and cook, stirring quite often, for about seven minutes, until nicely browned.
Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and continue to cook for one more minute.
Add the tomatoes, and basil, then reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring often, for 15 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and turned a deeper, darker red.
Give it a taste.
I thought 1/2 teaspoon each of Seasoned Salt, Black, and Aleppo peppers were nice, along with the chopped fresh parsley.
Then… in (another) departure from the original recipe, I also added one tablespoon of white sugar to balance all of the flavors and really bring the sauce together…
for me, at least. If you don’t want to add sugar, try one tablespoon of honey, or even some finely grated carrots.
Serve your Amatriciana with your fave pasta, but don’t forget about the eggs and the grilled sourdough slices.
Tasty!