Pasta all’Amatriciana with Fresh Tomatoes
Amatriciana is like carbonara and cacio e pepe’s forgotten little brother. Behind the ultra cheesy sauces that went viral, Amatriciana can seem lackluster. When I told Matt I was cooking it for us “for the blog,” he seemed completely indifferent. After rapidly downing two bowls of the finished dish, he declared it one of the best pastas I’d ever made.
The point is, just because Amatriciana isn’t oozing with creamy pecorino doesn’t mean it isn’t delicious. It just has a more understated elegance. Typically, it’s cooked with jarred or canned tomatoes, but my tomato garden is thriving in this late-summer sun, so I chose to use fresh. This is a rustic dish that’s hard to get wrong, and the best part is, it cooks in 20 minutes. Buon appetito!
Ingredients:
1 lb fresh pasta (I made linguine, but spaghetti is traditional)*
6-7 Roma tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 small bunch of basil, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano, divided
4 oz diced guanciale
1 large clove of garlic, gently crushed
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 Calabrian chili pepper, chopped
Crushed red pepper (optional)
Directions:
Cook guanciale in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Cook until crispy, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove guanciale to a plate with a slotted spoon, leaving the rendered fat in the pan.
Add chili pepper to the pan and cook over medium-low heat, about 1 minute. Then, add garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant.
Add tomatoes to pan and stir to incorporate, crushing them gently with the back of your spoon. Add kosher salt and red pepper flakes (if using). Cover and simmer on medium-low for 10 minutes.
In the meantime, bring a pot of salted water to boil.
After 10 minutes, remove lid from tomatoes and adjust seasoning if necessary. At this point, tomatoes should be fully softened, more closely resembling a puree. Reduce heat to low.
Cook the pasta in the prepared pot of water. If using fresh, the pasta should be ready in about 3 minutes.
Before straining, add one ladle of pasta water to tomatoes and stir. Add guanciale and half the pecorino, then toss in the pasta, coating it in the sauce.
Serve immediately, garnishing each plate with basil and the remaining cheese.
Serves 4.
*Feel free to use dried pasta for this dish. However, the timing will be different. Since dried pasta takes longer to cook, plan to start your water when you begin cooking the guanciale.