Pasta with tasty tomato sauce made with guanciale, San Marzano tomatoes, pecorino, olive oil, chili flakes and a little dry white wine.
| Servings | 2 Portions |
| Tags | Family Dinner | Italian | Main Course | Pasta | Pork |
| Allergens | Gluten, Milk, Wheat |
| Cook Time | 45 min |
This pasta sauce has a lot of flavor even though the list of ingredients is small. However, it is one of those dishes that benefits a lot from having high quality ingredients and it gives everything a little feeling of luxury when you eat it - or at least I think it does. In one of the pictures I show the ingredients I chose and I thought I found a good balance between quality and price. San Marzano tomatoes and guanciale give a lot of the special flavor but also pecorino puts its unique stamp.
There are a lot of different views on what is considered a real amatriciana and honestly I don't know if this one hits all the marks. Some say that white wine shouldn't be included, others say that it is something that must be included. Some recipes contain onions and garlic and different kinds of pork... One of the first recipes that pops up when you search is this from www.koket.se which I used here (I have only halved the ingredients and cook 2 portions at a time). Of the recipes I checked out and tested, this was what I liked the most, partly for its simplicity and what I think is close enough to the original. Even though this recipe is not supposed to be completely original, it turned out very good.
The principle is quite simple: Let sliced guanciale (and a little olive oil) cook on low/medium temperature for a while until it has released most of the fat. This is the base for the sauce to continue cooking in. Scoop out some of the fat (and some of the pork and save for serving) and then add chili and white wine which is allowed to reduce for a minute or so. Then the tomatoes go in and after they have boiled, they are left to simmer on medium heat while I start cooking the pasta. The tomatoes should then be allowed to simmer for about 15-20 minutes, which I think is good. Some recipes say much longer, but after testing around a bit, I think this is more than enough. Then you throw in the slightly undercooked pasta (according to the package, the uncooked pasta I used should cook for 14 minutes, I cooked it for 12 minutes) and then mix it with the tomato sauce and a little salted pasta water.
If you want to read more about amatriciana, check out wikipedia where there is a good article about this particular sauce and its history.
More Images
Ingredients
Directions
- Cut off and discard the rind of the guanciale. Cut the rest of the guanciale into small pieces (sticks).
- In a frying pan over low/medium heat: Add the olive oil and the sliced pork.
- Slowly fry until the guanciale has rendered most of its fat.
- Pick up half of the guanciale along with some of the fat (I thought it was a bit too much to leave it all).
- Heat the frying pan to medium/high, throw in the chili flakes and the white wine. Let reduce for a minute.
- Add the tomatoes and lower the frying pan to medium heat. Let the tomato sauce simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- While the tomato sauce is cooking - cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package (-2 minutes).
- Add a little of the pasta water to the tomato sauce.
- Pour the pasta into the sauce and mix. Let simmer for another minute or so until the pasta is cooked through.
- Serve on a plate with the guanciale that was removed in the previous step, grated pecorino and plenty of black pepper.
Nutrition Facts*
| Total | Serving | 100 g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 1874.43 kcal | 937.21 kcal | 216 kcal |
| Carbohydrates | 187.27 g | 93.63 g | 21.58 g |
| Fat | 93.81 g | 46.9 g | 10.81 g |
| Protein | 60.57 g | 30.29 g | 6.98 g |
| Sugar | 21.17 g | 10.59 g | 2.44 g |
| Salt | 7.81 g | 3.91 g | 0.90 g |
* The nutritional information provided is approximated and calculated using the ingredients available in the database. Info will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
