Two ingredient pasta all’amatriciana

A very good recipe for a two-ingredient amatriciana pasta sauce (with grated pecorino to serve!)

Hello! My name is Rebecca May Johnson, I am a writer and cook and this is my Substack. This newsletter has a recipe for pasta all’amatriciana.

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Two ingredient pasta all’amatriciana

I bought a piece of guanciale in the market and the woman selling it asked if I knew how to cook Amatriciana. I said yes, but then asked for her recipe, seeing that she had one. Using Italian and English she said:

Remove the rind of the guanciale and cut it into small pieces. Put it in a pan with no oil and cook it on a low-medium heat until the fat is rendered and the meat is crisp. Then remove the pieces of meat and crispy fat to a plate, leaving the melted fat in the pan. Off the heat, add passata, or fresh tomatoes, or tinned tomatoes. Simmer and cook the pasta, then drain the pasta, add to the sauce mix well and serve with the guanciale and grated pecorino.

I added pecorino to my order and two days later (tonight) I cooked it. The sweet sharp tomato sauce was profoundly seasoned by the cured melted guanciale fat, and punctuated by crispy pieces of pork. It felt miraculous, a sauce so potent composed of two ingredients.

Ingredients

serves up to 4 people

150g guanciale
400g passata
grated pecorino (or parmesan) to serve

100g pasta p/p (we used spaghetti)

How to make

Put a large pot of water on to boil for your pasta. Cut the hard rind off the guanciale with a sharp knife and discard. Cut the guanciale into small pieces of 1/2cm x 1cm or thereabouts. The bigger the pieces the longer it will take to render the fat. Put the guanciale in a deep frying pan that can accommodate the sauce and the pasta. Turn the heat on to a low-medium, add the guanciale and stir occasionally as the fat gently sizzles and melts. It will take around ten minutes for the fat to render and the meat to become crispy. When most of the pieces are crispy and a generous amount of fat has melted, remove the pieces to a plate with a slotted spoon. Off the heat, add the passata to the melted fat and shake the pan. Put the tomato back on a low heat so it’s gently bubbling. Salt the boiling pasta water and add the pasta to cook.

Drain the pasta, add it to the tomato sauce and mix well in the pan. Taste for seasoning. Mix in half the fried guanciale. Divide the pasta between plates. Add the rest of the guanciale on top, and some grated pecorino or parmesan.

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Note: One of the most exciting and convenient partially-prepared ingredients offered at the market in Rome is grated cheese. When you buy e.g. parmesan or pecorino, they offer to grate it for you and you can then keep it in the fridge sealed in the bag or a tupperware ready to use. I love it!