Spaghetti a la Vigliacca

[Tom]

Oh, gracious. This is delicious. I ate so much I am going to go find a warm rock and sleep for several days.

[Calgary_George]

I do mine in a cast iron dutch oven on the gas stove top. Finish up with 30 to 45 mins @ 350 or so in the oven with a 3/4 in space in the cover to permit evaporation. Perhaps a corruption of the original intent of the sauce, but hmmm hmmm good. Seems to enrich the tomato goodness ...

[Tom]

OK, I think I'm getting there. I like lots of flavor so I've been evolving this toward big flavors.

First, I went to the local oil and balsamic place and got a bottle of Nocellara EVOO. Good stuff. Then I broke some rules and adjusted quantities a little. Follow the process described, though. Use a head and a half of garlic and about a half a cup of parsley. Go big on the oil, I used 1/3 cup and then a couple splashes so the garlic and pepper were swimming. A heaping teaspoon of pepper flakes was about right. A cup of a good cab/sangiovese blend and *two* 28 oz cans of San Marzanos. Cook the whole thing down so there's no apparent water any more, this wants to be thick. Use salt as recommended in the sauce, but I like to about brine the pasta water. A good palmful. Definitely finish the sauce and the pasta together for about five minutes over decent heat stirring constantly to get rid of the last water so they marry and live happily ever after.

Next up is to go to the farmers market and get some good garlic, the kind with some color to it not all pasty and sad like the stuff in the store.

[Chris Chesebro]

I like these tweaks, Tom.

Need to dust off this recipe again soon.

[brc]

So I’ve been to several grocery stores over the past few days and the pasta and pasta sauce shelves are ransacked. What the unenlightened don’t know, however, is that the real way to make pasta sauce is to go to the canned tomato section, where voilà! San Marzano tomatoes in plenty of supply. Making this spectacular dish once again tonight.

[gt6267a]

Potential sacrilege ... we've been doing a little wand blending. it helps coat the pasta better and increases usage for things like chicken parm or pizza. if you go down this road, watch the crushed red. the blending amplifies the pepper.

in terms of ransacking shelves, we never make just one batch. we do 6 x the recipe and 3 x meatball recipe from ina garten. then we freeze 4 x meatballs covered in sauce. usually we get 1 x day of meal and 12 x frozen planned over meals. reheat and combine with pasta for a delicious super easy weekday meal.

[JChasse]

I couldn't even venture a guess as to how many times I've made this over the years. I experimented quite a bit, I was never quite sure why it would be ok to turn it into a cream sauce, but not ok to put some really good parmigiano-reggiano or pecorino on it. I really liked the combo of this with high quality Italian sausage, and played with that. I've come sorta full-circle. Our happy place now is to follow the original recipe closely, maybe with more oil and more parsley. Then put hot Italian sausage on the smoker and serve them on the side. Heaven.

[winmonster]

I reduced the heck out of a leftover batch of this to make a Chicago-style stuffed pizza. The pizza was pretty good, but needs some work. Simmered on the stovetop until there was almost no moisture left. Attempt at visual description: move, push, pile sauce into any shape or location in the pan, and it doesn't move at all. Perfect for that use.

[Brian E Hammer]

Tried this recipe for the first time last night. Like everyone else, "whoa"..., that's just magic. I used nearly two heads of garlic, about 10% more chili flakes and did the full offering of Sauv Blanc. The off burner "become one" time was 2hr's and 15 minutes
at which point I boiled water an salt for the pasta, the subsequent coupling of pasta, sauce and a little more sauce. 2nd batch may have some mushrooms tossed in and perhaps a chopped strip of medium cooked bacon, just cuz. Thanks for putting this recipe out
to the community. It's what makes this forum a special place to allocate time and energy to : )

[Nierman]

Wife's bday coming up and for some reason -- been many years -- but this shook back into my memory. Got chicken spiedini with a side of this wondersauce (or other way around?) planned for Saturday night!

[darkmother]

Had another go at this recipe. This time I followed the directions fully.


So good. I used it as a pizza topping on a pita/flatbread tonight as a snack. I will enjoy with pasta tomorrow after a long ride tomorrow. This sauce mellows with age, in a good way.

Thank you for sharing.

[Saltgrass]

Great recipe and very good insight into making an excellent sauce. Just one thing that is mostly off base. It's this part:

'If you have an electric stove, carry it out to the curb and replace with a gas stove before beginning'

Most serious cooks that I know would never let an electric stove become a constraint, but instead they would adapt their technique to the tools they have. Note that in episodes of 'The French Chef' Julia Child's iconic cooking show she used an electric range exclusively. Almost everyone knows she cooked circles around virtually everyone of her peers then and most professionals since.

https://www.pbs.org/video/the-french...n-soup-dv2ts5/

[darkmother]

Tried this recipe again this evening as a meat sauce, with 2/3 lb of ground sirloin pre cooked and added with the tomatoes. Different, but still super good. It will motivate me to ride home faster knowing that this is waiting.

Love the high signal to noise ratio of this space. Thanks for sharing.

[HorsCat]

Made this last night for the wife and kids. Cut back on the hot pepper flakes - I used cayenne - on account of the 7 year old (half TSP, not whole one). Also used artisanal bucatini instead of spaghetti.

The sauce was excellent. My wife loved it and the kids lapped it up (even the 7 year old, spice and all).

Great instructions, too!

Thank you for sharing. We will definitely make this again.

[UnfilteredDregs]

I'm making this again this week. Love it.

[TMB]

I had forgotten how good this is.

I let a couple of Parsley plants go wild and while thinking of what I would do with it all .. this came to mind. So I made last week. I had forgotten how damned good it is.

Back in the rotation.

[darkmother]

Almost time for me to make another batch! So good.

[j44ke]

I haven’t read the whole thread, but I did read the first post with the recipe.

Doesn’t pasta alla vigliacca have pancetta in it? Otherwise isn’t this just a jazzed up arrabbiata? I’ve been to Lucca and this is one dish that, as a vegetarian, was off my menu.

[jclay]

I haven’t read the whole thread, but I did read the first post with the recipe.

Doesn’t pasta alla vigliacca have pancetta in it? Otherwise isn’t this just a jazzed up arrabbiata? I’ve been to Lucca and this is one dish that, as a vegetarian, was off my menu.

Were you able to find decent vegetarian grub in Italy?

[j44ke]

Were you able to find decent vegetarian grub in Italy?

Yes. We’re not militant vegetarians, just dietary. Eat fish, dairy, etc. So wasn’t an issue at restaurants. And then there are the village market days where everything is right off the vine and the villa we rent has an amazing kitchen. Hard to go wrong with a pile of fresh tomatoes. I think anyone who has problems eating in Italy probably has problems wherever they are. It ain’t Italy’s fault.