Pasta alla Gricia

• porciones: 4
• tiempo activo: 10 minutes
• tiempo total: 15 minutes

Ingredientes

350 rigatoni pasta (or another large noodle)

200 g guanciale, sliced into thick strips then chunks

110 g pecorino romano cheese, grated

Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Instrucciones

Boil a pot of water and salt it. Add your pasta and cook for 2-3 minutes less than al-dente. Reserve some of the pasta water when it’s finished. In the meantime, continue with the rest of the steps.

Put a wide pan over medium heat and allow it to heat up completely. Add in the chunks of guanciale and saute. Allow it to render out some fat and start to brown itself, about 2-3 minutes. If you render too much fat out then it can become dry.

Remove the guanciale from the pan with a slotted spoon, reserving the fan.

With the pasta finished cooking, add some of the pasta water into the pan with the fat. Stir it together and add the pasta back in. Cook over medium-high heat for about a minute, stirring, then take it off the heat.

Add in the grated pecorino cheese and stir well. The cheese will melt and help form a sauce. Add in more reserved pasta water as needed until you have a nice texture (it will thicken more as it cools).

Mix in the guanciale and serve with plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Think of it just like carbonara, where the black pepper is a main flavor.

Notas

A traditional Roman dish from as far back as the 5th century AD. It’s an incredibly simple dish that relies on technique and good ingredients to create something greater than the sum of its parts. The star of this dish is the guanciale, which I would strongly recommend not substituting. You can buy some of it and make a wide variety of dishes. It’s one of my favorite ingredients I’ve ever used.