Welcome to Parla’s Pastas, a bi-weekly column by the Rome-based, New York Occasions best-selling cookbook creator Katie Parla. Right here you’ll discover conventional and impressed recipes from Italy’s 20 areas. Prepare for a carb-driven journey by the trattorias of Rome, the kitchens of Sicily (her ancestral homeland), rural Campania, and past. Fireplace up a pot of water, and andiamo!
Gricia must be a family identify. The pillar of Roman delicacies hits the excessive notes of Central Italian meals with its sauce of pleasingly pungent Pecorino Romano, fat-rich guanciale, and coarsely floor black pepper. Like amatriciana and carbonara, Rome’s better-known pastas, gricia achieves daring taste utilizing surprisingly few components—but by no means had its viral second. It’s about time: Guanciale and pecorino play lead roles, relatively than being muted or mellowed within the background.
Roman cooks declare that gricia originated in northern Lazio, deep within the Apennine mountains. Shepherds launched city-dwellers to the dish over a century in the past, and it caught. Certainly, it could go on to encourage Rome’s different iconic pastas: Spiked with tomato sauce, it turned amatriciana. Enriched with egg, it birthed carbonara. However regardless of the worldwide renown of those later creations, gricia by no means obtained its due—even when it’s nonetheless a pillar of the Roman trattoria.
Lately, gricia is my go-to order at Salumeria Roscioli, a gourmand deli and restaurant in Rome’s centro storico. There, crisp cubes of guanciale mingle with “al chiodo” (not fairly al dente) rigatoni and three distinctive, fragrant sorts of black pepper.
When I’ve associates on the town, I take them to Armando al Pantheon (a block from, you guessed it, the Pantheon), the place chef Claudio Gargioli softens the guanciale with a splash of white wine. The porky strips get caught within the strands as you twirl.
Gricia alla Katie? For starters, I’m a rigatoni lady: Who can resist these porky bits that settle contained in the tubular structure? Guanciale-wise, I spring for rectangles, versus cubes, which crisp up properly (see be aware under). The sauce is impressed by my native, Cesare al Casaletto, a trattoria a number of blocks from my house. It’s outstandingly silky. I replicate it at dwelling by cooking the pasta midway in evenly salted water to compensate for the very salty pecorino, then add it to the pan with a ladleful of pasta water, a wholesome dose of guanciale, and its flavorful rendered fats. The important thing, I’ve discovered, is to swirl the pasta because it finishes cooking to attain an ideal mantecatura (emulsion). To duplicate and get that excellent chunk, use your senses, relatively than a timer, to find out when the pasta is finished and has the proper chunk. Final come beneficiant cranks of black pepper, and sufficient finely grated Pecorino Romano to attach all of it collectively. Make it as we speak to be immediately transported to the animated trattorias of Rome irrespective of the place you might be.
Be aware: When you fancy crisp guanciale, cook dinner it over medium warmth and switch it to a plate, leaving the fats within the pan, when you put together the dish. Then add the crisp guanciale with the pasta earlier than plating. If potential, search out guanciale with a easy black pepper and salt treatment, relatively than one flavored with fennel, garlic, or chile. The dish is all concerning the pure taste of black pepper.
Yield: 4
Time: half-hour
Components
- 9 oz. guanciale
- ¾ cup finely grated Pecorino Romano (2½ oz.), divided
- High quality sea salt
- 1 lb. dried rigatoni pasta
- 2 tsp. freshly floor black pepper
Directions
- Minimize off and discard the guanciale’s seasoned crust, then reduce into ¼-inch-thick slabs. Slice every slab lengthwise, then reduce into ¾-inch-thick strips.
- To a big, chilly cast-iron skillet or pan, add the guanciale and switch the warmth to medium-low. Prepare dinner, stirring sometimes, till the fats renders, 10–quarter-hour. Take away from the warmth and put aside to chill barely.
- In the meantime, carry a big pot of salted water (see headnote) to a boil, then add the rigatoni and boil till barely al dente, somewhat greater than half of the advisable cooking time on the bundle. Switch 1 cup of the pasta cooking water to the pan with the guanciale and put aside one other ½ cup.
- Drain the pasta, then add it to the pan with the guanciale and switch the warmth to medium-high. Prepare dinner, swirling the pan, till the pasta is al dente and coated in sauce, 5–7 minutes. Flip off the warmth and stir within the black pepper and ½ cup of the Pecorino. If the sauce is just too thick, steadily add sufficient reserved pasta water to make a easy, creamy sauce. Serve instantly, passing the remaining Pecorino for sprinkling.
