Bacon Pasta

This is a standard dish in my family.  The smell of bacon, onions and garlic always takes me back to my mom making this sauce.  It's so easy it's ridiculous.  This sauce can easily be made with pantry items as a last-minute dinner.  I never knew it, but this pasta dish is a traditional Italian preparation, called Al'Amatriciana.  It goes on any pasta, but we realized up at the cabin the other weekend that rigatoni goes very well with the sauce, as it fills the shaped pasta.

1 lb. bacon, chopped

1 large red or yellow onion, small dice

4 cloves garlic, minced

pinch crushed red pepper

1 tsp. dried oregano

2 14.5 oz. cans stewed tomatoes

1 14.5 oz. can tomato sauce

1 tsp. sugar

salt and pepper

1 lb. dried pasta

parmesan

fresh basil

Bring a large pot of water to boil for pasta and add 1/4c. kosher salt.

Saute bacon in a large skillet on medium-low heat until it is almost browned.  Add onions and saute until bacon finishes browning and onions are translucent.  Add garlic and saute 1 minute more.

Add crushed red pepper and oregano and stir in.  Add stewed tomatoes and sauce.  Using a flat wooden spatula, break up stewed tomatoes into smaller pieces.  Simmer sauce until thickened, 10-15 minutes.  Add sugar, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add pasta to boiling water and cook until before al dente, 2 minutes before package directions.  Remove to simmering sauce and finish cooking, tossing sauce well into pasta.  Top with torn basil and parmesan, make some crusty garlic bread and enjoy!