Spaghetti all'amatriciana

main dish Italian cuisine lunch
Total: 25 min. | Active: 25 min.
lactose-free

When eating in Rome, you can hardly avoid spaghetti all'amatriciana. Strictly speaking, however, this classic dish doesn't actually come from the capital, but from the small mountain village of Amatrice, where it started out even simpler. Shepherds would pack the seasoned, air-dried pork cheek known as guanciale and a good pecorino when they were away for longer periods. That's all that was required for a hearty, filling pasta dish known as pasta alla gricia. It was only later that tomatoes were added, giving the sauce its unmistakable fruity depth. Today, amatriciana has become an indispensable part of Roman cuisine – hearty, fuss-free and simply buonissima!

Recipe by:
Daniela Bieder – daniela CULINAIRE

Ingredients

for 4 portions

Sauce
120 g Guanciale, cut into strips
2 tin tomatoes (San Marzano, each approx. 400 g)
  salt and pepper to taste
Spaghetti
320 g spaghetti
  salted water, boiling
60 g Pecorino romano, finely grated

How it's done

Sauce

Gently fry the guanciale in a wide, non-stick frying pan until crispy. Remove the guanciale, set aside. Leave approx. 3 tbsp of the cooking oil in the pan, pour away the rest. Crush the tomatoes between your fingers, add them to the same pan and simmer for approx. 15 mins. Season the sauce.

Spaghetti

Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water until just al dente. Set aside approx. 100 ml of the cooking water, drain the spaghetti. Add the spaghetti to the sauce along with the reserved cooking water, cook until al dente while stirring. Mix in the reserved guanciale and pecorino just before serving.

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