Summer is peeping through our windows. The old, icy cold is giving way to the sweet embrace of the sun and the days are finally getting longer and more memorable. Back home they say the heat makes you lose your appetite, but I don’t know why it has the opposite effect on me. So any occasion is a good one to prepare something, and today I would like to propose my reinterpretation of pasta all’amatriciana.
Pasta all’amatriciana (original recipe here)
This type of pasta is very wintery and not very summery, but for us amatriciana lovers it is impossible to give it up. So I decided to make a few changes to make it less heavy and less hearty.
The tomatoes
One of the main features of my summer, and that of many Italians, is fresh tomatoes: pachino, cherry, piccadilly and so on. Their versatility in the kitchen makes them indispensable in the summer, so I decided to replace the passata with cherry tomatoes.
Nectar of the gods
Guanciale is recommended for this type of pasta for several reasons, the first of which is its lard. When cooked, this piece of meat releases its flavour and gives the tomatoes that typical Amatriciana taste. Alternatively, it can be replaced by lard, bacon, or anything else that is close to guanciale.
| People: 3 | Time: 20mins | Difficulty: Easy |
Ingredients
- 300g spaghetti
- 100g of bacon
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 300g cherry tomatoes
- Salt and pepper to taste
To prepare
- Boil the water for the pasta and salt it. Prepare the tomatoes by making a small cross on the bottom. Bring a pot of water to the boil and put all the tomatoes in the water for 2-3 minutes while we prepare a container of very cold water to stop the cooking, once 2-3 minutes have passed in the boiling water, put all the tomatoes in cold water.
- Peel all the tomatoes and crush them with your hands, reducing them to small pieces. Cut the bacon into small pieces and put it in a frying pan with a little oil on a low heat (the little fat in the bacon will melt and mix with the oil), deglaze with the wine (deglaze until the smell of the wine disappears), put the tomatoes in the frying pan and cook the sauce for 5 minutes.
- Throw the spaghetti into the water and cook them until al dente, leaving them in the frying pan to finish cooking, adding a ladle of pasta water if necessary. When cooked, serve with a sprinkling of Pecorino Romano cheese.
Tips
You can use any type of fresh tomato you like. The important thing is that they finish cooking in the sauce. We can also add garlic or onion or both.
