Every time I browse the many cookbooks by Biba Caggiano I own, a recipe catches my eye that I haven’t tried before. In this case it was bucatini alle cipolle, a very simple pasta dish that makes the onions shine by cooking them slowly over low heat. A bit of pancetta is added for additional flavor. The onions are cooked until they are so soft and sweet that they become a sauce. This turned out to be a wonderful pasta dish that I will definitely make again, even though it takes a bit longer to cook the onions. I made a few adaptions, the most important being to cook the onions in the fat rendered from the pancetta to add another layer of flavor. I urge you to try this pasta dish, as you will be amazed how much flavor can be in something that is so simple. Here’s what I did…
Ingredients
For 2 servings
300 grams (.66 lb) onions, thinly sliced
150 grams (.33 lb) bucatini (or spaghetti)
50 grams (1.8 oz) pancetta, diced
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp minced fresh flat leaf parsley
freshly grated parmigiano reggiano
Preparation
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the pancetta.
Cook over medium heat until the pancetta is golden but not completely crispy, about 3 minutes.
Take out the pancetta with a strainer and reserve.
Add the onions to the fat left behind by the pancetta.
Add about 60 ml (1/4 cup) of water.
Cover and cook over low heat for about 40 minutes…
…stirring regularly and checking whether any water needs to be added.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Time it such that you add salt and the pasta to the boiling water when the onions have about 5 minutes to go.
After 40 minutes, uncover the onions and raise the heat. Cook, stirring, until the onions start to caramelize.
Then, add the pancetta…
…and about 125 ml (1/2 cup) of the pasta cooking water.
Add the parsley as well. Cook until the sauce has a nice consistency, adding more of the pasta cooking water if needed.
Drain the pasta when it is al dente according to package instructions, and add it to the onions.
Toss the bucatini with the sauce until they are covered with the sauce.
Serve at once on preheated plates, sprinkled with freshly grated parmigiano.
Flashback
The people of Rome have a colorful way of naming their dishes and describing how delicious they are. Saltimbocca refers to veal scaloppine that are so tasty that they “jump into your mouth”, and these lamb chops Scottadito are do delicious that you burn your fingers (scotta = burn, dito = fingers) while eating them.
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 
Stefan non ho mai pensato di fare una pasta solo con cipolle e pancetta, deve essere veramente appetitosa. Un caro saluto Bea
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Dovresti provarla 🙂 Mi sembra una ricetta molto “Bea”.
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Perchè molto “Bea” ?? Ciaoo
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Perché pochi ingredienti e molto sapore, come tutte le tue ricette.
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Ma che complimento carino!!! Un bacione virtuale Bea
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Stefan this looks wonderful. I love simple, yet flavorful pasta recipes like this. Sweet onions are in season right now and I imagine this would be fabulous using them. I’ll report back!
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Deliciously simple. A lovely midweek meal.
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Buoni! Io, che esagero sempre. ci metto anche l’uovo!
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Mi piace questo piatto saporito e così semplice! Io aggiungo anche un po’ di rosmarino tritato alla pancetta per un extra di sapore.
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Reblogged this on global_food.
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Ja t’is lekker en eenvoudig. Weet ik omdat ik heb het gemaakt vorige week na het lezen in CampariandSofa – maar zonder de spek
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Simple and delicious! Love it!
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This looks delicious, Stefan!
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One of my first cooking jobs was working for Biba. She has a restaurant in Sacramento California. It was one of the best jobs I have ever had. Hard but I learned more there than anywhere. She really paid attention to me since I was the only woman in the kitchen at the time. We made this dish for a special occasionally. I really is good if you get the onions done the right way which I am sure you did Stephan! Great post as usual.
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Seems quite simple enough and looks great too. Must try it. Thanks for sharing 🙂 Do follow my blog too
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Buonissima, la faccio anche io a volte ed è deliziosa.
Bravo! 🙂
Emanuele
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Looks great in its simplicity!
I wonder if the onions could be pressure-cooked, which would decrease cooking time
and caramelize simultaneously. There was a recipy for pressure-cooked onion soup somewhere in the Modernist Cuisine at home, so this should work too.
I’ll definately try this.
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Thanks for the suggestion. I have tried some of the caramelized pressure cooker recipes from MC@H and that could surely work for this onion sauce as well to save some time and add flavor. I’ll report back on the blog 🙂
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I have not done onions in a covered pan with water before. A new technique to try.
Perhaps lunch today…….
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This is also the technique used for cooking onions for quiche. With a drop lid (of parchment paper) you can cook them while keeping them whole, which for pasta sauce is not needed.
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We enjoyed this for dinner last night Stefan! What a wonderful pasta recipe with so few ingredients. We absolutely loved it. Interesting recipe I would have never thought to combine onions with pancetta and allow that to be the the sauce, let alone cook the onions in this method. Thank you of sharing, I’ll keep this one close at hand to make often.
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That’s great to hear! Thanks for letting me know. Recipes with few ingredients are often the best.
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How have I never heard of this recipe before, it sounds absolutely fantastic!!! Thanks for sharing, today I’ll have to try and find some bucatini.
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If you can’t find bucatini, spaghetti will work in a pinch.
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Simple and delicious, bravo! I love finding these types of dishes.
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I must try this! We have wonderful sweet Walla Walla onions here in the PNW. Looking forward to cooking this!
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This sounds really delicious and something new to try. Thank you for sharing this.
Simon
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