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Pork Belly Rigatoni

Pork belly rigatoni is a Southern interpretation of the Italian all’Amatriciana!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 8 oz rigatoni
  • 1 TBL olive oil
  • 810 oz pork belly – trimmed, sliced thinley, flattened to paper thin with a meat mallet, sliced into 1/2” pieces
  • 1/3 cup Italian dry white wine
  • 11/3 cup crushed marzano tomatoes
  • 1 TBL tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup pecorino romano cheese – grated
  • Ground white pepper – to taste
  • Salt – to taste
  • 2 oz pecorino romano cheese – shredded or shaved for garnish

Instructions

  1. Boil your rigatoni while making the sauce in a generously salted pot of water, but stop 1 minute before the providers recommended time
  2. Saute the pork belly pieces in the olive oil over medium heat until they render their fat and begin to crisp. Do not overcook because you want the pork to remain tender
  3. Pour in the wine and simmer the pork for 1 minute, then remove the pork with a slotted spoon and set aside. Leave the fat in the pan
  4. Add the crushed tomatoes and tomato paste to the wine/fat mixture, simmer on low and stir until the sauce combines and begins to thicken – about 10 minutes
  5. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste
  6. Reserve some pasta water in case you need to thin the sauce
  7. Drain the rigatoni then add it and the pork to the sauce. Stir to combine and coat the pasta, then stir in the grated pecorino romano
  8. Serve with a light cheese garnish and a glass of the remaining white wine