Rigatoni alla gricia.
By Lyssa Firth
Pepe e cacio is a classic but if you fancy an upgrade it’s time to welcome Roman newcomer alla gricia. This is, of course, not a newcomer at all, with its origins allegedly in the portable pantries of shepherds in the Amatrice hills of Lazio, hence its moniker “Amatriciana Bianco” […]
Pepe e cacio is a classic but if you fancy an upgrade it’s time to welcome Roman newcomer alla gricia. This is, of course, not a newcomer at all, with its origins allegedly in the portable pantries of shepherds in the Amatrice hills of Lazio, hence its moniker “Amatriciana Bianco”.
It relies on very few (four!) exceptional ingredients namely pasta, pepper, pecorino and guanciale – a cured pork cheek that you can find in Italian delis (and even on Ocado). I urge you to seek it out as it has a very high fat content which adds smoke, silk and umami richness to the dish.
Rigatoni alla gricia (serves 4)
Ingredients:
400g high quality rigatoni (ideally something bronze die-cut which is slightly rough and ridged to hold the silky sauce)
300g guanciale cut into lardons
150g pecorino cheese plus extra to serve
1 teaspoon old fashioned finely ground black pepper – the powdery type.
Method:
Bring a large pot of cold water to the boil for the pasta. Don’t salt the pasta water as you’ll be using it for the sauce. Chop the guanciale into little batons and fry until golden and the fat has been released. Add the black pepper to the frying pan. Cook the pasta as per the instructions. When al dente, add the pasta into the guanciale along with a ladle of the pasta cooking water and the pecorino. Then stir quickly and vigorously to combine the cheese and starchy water into a silky sauce, add more pasta water if it seems dry and continue to stir until you have a thick and creamy sauce. Taste it to see if you need to add salt, the guanciale provide a lot of salt anyway and you should feel a punchy warmth from the pepper.
Serve with extra cheese and pepper to taste.
Share this:
Images. The Obsessive
All images are copyright to their respective owners.