Italian

Bucatini all’Amatriciana

Name: Bucatini all’Amatriciana recipe
Yield: 4
Cuisine: /italian
Ingredients: 30ml extra virgin olive oil; 150g guanciale, cut to fine strips; 1 pinch dried chilli flakes; 150ml dry white wine (Frascati if you want to really get into this!); 1 x 400g can San Marzano tomatoes, drained, rinsed and crushed with your hand; 400g best quality dried bucatini, I like (Rustichella brand); 100g pecorino Romano, finely grated

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by Richard Purdue

Jul 25, 2019

“This is one of the classic Roman pasta dishes, originally from the town of Amatrice, east of Rome. It is said to have been a staple of shepherds, who could carry its ingredients easily and who would shape long round noodles around a thin stick, thus creating bucatini, like thick spaghetti with a hole down the middle.” – Richard Purdue

30ml extra virgin olive oil
150g guanciale, cut to fine strips
1 pinch dried chilli flakes
150ml dry white wine (Frascati if you want to really get into this!)
1 x 400g can San Marzano tomatoes, drained, rinsed and crushed with your hand
400g best quality dried bucatini, I like (Rustichella brand)
100g pecorino Romano, finely grated

Method

1.

Bring a pot of water to a rapid boil with 10g salt for every litre of water.
2.

Place olive oil in a heavy-based frypan over medium heat. Add guanciale and chilli flakes, and cook until the fat on the guanciale has rendered, but not coloured. Add wine and reduce by two-thirds. Add tomato and bring to the boil. Set aside.
3.

Add pasta to the pot of boiling water and cook according to manufacturer’s instructions, less 3 minutes. When pasta is 80 per cent cooked, drain and reserve the cooking water. Return the frypan to high heat with the guanciale mixture and add the drained pasta. Bring the pasta and sauce to the boil and gradually add a little pasta water and half of the grated pecorino. Cook until the pasta is just cooked through. You should end up with quite a wet sauce, bound with cheese and let out to the texture of pouring cream with pasta water. Season, but remember the guanciale and pecorino are both salty and you have added salt to the dish with the pasta water.
4.

Divide dressed pasta among four hot plates, top with remaining 50g pecorino and serve immediately.