Name: Spaghetti all’amatriciana (Spaghetti with tomato and guanciale)
Yield: Makes 4 servings
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: 5 or 6 small sauce tomatoes; salt; 14 ounces (400 g) spaghetti; 2½ ounces (70 g) grated pecorino, preferably pecorino romano; 3½ ounces (100 g) guanciale; 1 tablespoon intensely fruity extra-virgin olive oil; 1 small white onion; piece dried chile, to taste

Preparation info

Makes
4
servings

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Popes, Peasants and Shepherds

By Oretta Zanini de Vita

Published 2013

About

This dish is attributed to, and claimed by, Amatrice, a town in the northeast corner of Lazio, near the Abruzzo border. Purists would have it made simply with guanciale and pecorino, but nowadays, onion and tomato are usually added. If you can’t get guanciale, use a very fatty pancetta.

Ingredients

5 or 6 small sauce tomatoes
3½ ounces (100 g) guanciale

Method

Peel, halve, and seed the tomatoes, then cut into thin strips. Cut the guanciale into small pieces, put in a skillet with the oil, and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, or until crisp. Remove the guanciale with a slotted spoon to a bowl and keep warm. Reserve the contents of the pan.

Chop the onion and put it in a saucepan with the chile and the contents of the guanciale pa