Pasta and Red Wine

I'm at day 16 of a 21-day stretch without a day off and I am exhausted. Despite all this work, I am determined that we are going to have some family time, if only a few minutes during dinner, before I pass out. About all I was up to making (and truth be told, all I wanted to eat) was a nice plate of pasta.

Paccheri with Pork Ragù

So Sunday night, we reheated a bag of pork ragù from the freezer and tossed it with some beautiful artisanal paccheri, called ondulati or wavy after the big ridges in the pasta. Topped with a sprinkle of pecorino romano, hot pepper flakes, and a bit of kosher salt, this is a hard meal to beat. We paired it with a pretty decent Malbec.

OK Malbec from Moët et Chandon

And Monday night, I quickly cooked some perciatelli while Ann reheated some marinara in the microwave. I made the marinara at the restaurant on Sunday during some down time while getting our catering job together. Your nonna would love this sauce, but she would roll in her grave if she knew I used Peruvian rocoto chile paste and Vietnamese fish sauce to season it! She has her pepperoncini and acciughe and I have mine. This we paired with a Sardinian wine made from the Monica grape, a grape that I have never experienced before. I found it medium-bodied, ruby-colored, and displaying decent tannins and acidity, a good pasta wine.



Perciatelli Marinara

Monica from Sardinia