When my husband and I went to Italy last winter, the first thing we ate was pasta. My husband ordered his favorite cacio e pepe but I decided to be adventurous and order a pasta I never had before, amatriciana. Little did I know that this is a classic Italian dish available widely throughout Italy. I could barely pronounce the name but by the end of the meal, I was singing Amatriciana! This pasta ended up being one of my favorite meals in Italy. Made from only four ingredients, the sauce is simple but full of incredible flavor. This recipe is an ode to the dish I had in Rome, adding a special twist to make it my own.
Amatriciana Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ½ lb guanciale chopped
- 28 ounce San Marzano peeled canned tomatoes
- ¼ cup reserved oil
- 2 teaspoon garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 lb spaghetti bronze die
- ½ cup reserved pasta water
- grated pecorino
Instructions
- Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add guanciale and saute until lightly browned, about 4-5 minutes. Drain all but 1 tablespoon oil, reserving the rendered pork fat.
- Add canned tomatoes with juices and season with salt and pepper. Lower heat to low and continue to cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce should barely be bubbling.
- Meanwhile, heat ¼ cup of the reserved pork fat in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add minced garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until garlic is lightly browned, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Strain the oil, discarding the garlic and red pepper flakes.
- Add garlic and red pepper infused oil to amatriciana sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving ½ cup of the cooking liquid.
- Toss pasta with the sauce and the reserved cooking liquid. Taste and make a final seasoning adjustment, adding more salt and pepper if needed. Top with grated pecorino and serve immediately.
**Helpful tips and common mistakes
Traditionally, you only need four ingredients to make amatriciana pasta: guanciale, tomatoes, chili, and pecorino. Since there are so few ingredients, it is imperative that each item is of the best quality, even the pasta. I was able to bring back guanciale and pecorino from Italy, but I purchased the remaining back at home. Go through the trouble of finding the best ingredients, you will not regret it.
Start by sauteing the guanciale. You may be reading this post and be thinking, "What the heck is guanciale?". Guanciale is cured pork cheeks. It can be difficult to find but there really isn't anything else like it. The closest substitution will be pancetta, but pancetta lacks the depth of flavor that guanciale has. No matter what, do not use bacon. It will not do this meal justice.
Brown the guanciale and drain all but 1 tablespoon of the fat. You will be incorporating the rendered fat back into the sauce for extra flavor so set it aside! Add the canned tomatoes, seasoning with salt and pepper. If tomatoes are in season, you can always use fresh. However, for ease and simplicity, I used canned. This did not mean I skimped on the quality, no sir.
While the sauce is simmering, bring back the reserved rendered fat back to heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes, cooking just until the garlic turns golden brown. You don't want the garlic to get too dark since it will continue to cook in the hot oil even off heat. Now add this infused oil back to the sauce and season the sauce once more.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta. I highly recommend bronze die spaghetti which is made from 100% durum wheat semolina. This gives it a rougher surface, giving it a better surface for the sauce to cling to vs Teflon pasta which is shiny and slippery. It also makes the water in which it cooks in much starchier. Why is this important? The starchy water binds together the sauce with the pasta. The starchier the water, the better it emulsifies, and the silkier and richer the sauce becomes. And that's how you turn a good pasta sauce great!
When you initially read the list of ingredients to make amatriciana pasta, you can't help but think, but won't that just taste like tomato sauce with bacon? This, my friends, cannot be further from the truth. The guanciale is a flavor bomb that turns canned tomatoes into something spectacular. With my first bite, I couldn't help but grin the biggest smile. Rich, flavorful, and just so amazingly good. Without a doubt, one of my favorite kinds of pasta and now my husband's too.
For more pasta inspiration, check out this breakfast pasta or sundried tomato pesto pasta with burrata!
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