Pasta for dinner is always a welcome dish, but to try new recipes like Spagheti All’Amatriciana is a fantastic option compared to having the usual Bolognese.
The best thing about having Spagheti All’Amatriciana is that you only need basic or straightforward ingredients, but the outcome is fantastic for everyone in the family or with your guests. As you allow your loved ones, guests, or partners to spend quality time, you can also efficiently prepare this dish.
What is Amatriciana?
Amatriciana originated from the mountainous place town of Amatrice in the early 1700s. This old recipe was traditionally prepared for the shepherds to comfort them at work, especially during wintertime.
This dish uses seven basic ingredients: pasta, tomatoes, guanciale / bacon, olive oil, white wine, pecorino cheese, and chili.
However, the Roman variety of this food contains garlic and onions, according to food experts at the Wonder Cooks.
We recommend pairing Frescobaldi Remole wine with this Spaghetti All’ Amatriciana recipe.
Serves 6
This recipe is also featured in Tuscany Tonight’s La Spaghettata Quick Menu.
Ingredients:
About 1 1/2 pounds of Spaghetti
3-4 cloves garlic – chopped
Olive oil
Pancetta (Bacon) – cut into cubes
1 large yellow onion – finely chopped
2 cups canned imported Italian tomatoes (chopped or puree)
Salt
Pepper
Sugar
Basic
Pecorino Romano
Red Wine – Remole Toscana
Steps in cooking Spaghetti All’ Amatriciana
- Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until golden.
- Add the pancetta and saute until browned.
- Pour in 1/2 cup of Danzante Merlot, and let reduce completely.
- Stir in the tomato puree and the salt and pepper to taste.
- Add a pinch of sugar to neutralize the acid from the tomatoes.
- Continue to cook until sauce thickens.
- Meanwhile, heat the water for the pasta. When it begins to boil, add salt and then the spaghetti.
- Follow the cooking time indicated on the package, stirring it every once in a while so that it does not stick.
- Drain the pasta and mix it with the sauce. Serve with grated pecorino romano.
The origin and history of Spaghetti
The spaghetti durum wheat is a versatile and indispensable ingredient in traditional Italian cuisine.
This familiarity of this ingredient gives credence to fantastic spaghetti recipes in Italy and in the rest of the world, like spaghetti with garlic, spaghetti with carbonara, spaghetti with cheese and pepper, spaghetti with oil and chili pepper, and the ever-known, spaghetti with tomato sauce.
“Of this pasta, which lends itself well to a wide variety of sauces and condiments, there are currently about 200 variations, including thicker, thinner or rounded formats (linguine, ziti or spaghetti alla chitarra are an example),” wrote food expert Ivana De Innocentis.
According to De Innocentis, the origin of spaghetti “has long been debated and different theories see East and West in contrast.”
“Although the shape of the spaghetti originated in China and the process was partially taken up by Arab cuisine, it is in any case to Italy that the merit of having invented this dry pasta goes,” the author wrote in an article at the Tumn.
The amazing history of Made in Italy spaghetti
Historians said the first proof of the widespread use of dried pasta in Italy dates back to the 12th-13th century. During this time, the various pasta shapes also became known across Italy and nearby places. The other pasta shapes include ravioli, gnocchi, and macaroni.
In the 14th century, Boccaccio’s Decameron mentioned the existence of these pasta shapes. Other famous writers during the said period also talked about the various pasta shapes and forms.
While it was believed that the birth of spaghetti started back in the medieval era, the pasta was also different from today. Back then the pasta was cooked for the very influential, rich and royal families. Also, it was cooked in a much longer time, and added with different types of ingredients and seasoning.
It was only in 1819, that the word “spaghetti” came out in an Italian dictionary. The dish also became a traditional and staple food throughout Italy during this period.
Interestingly, big landowners in Sicily or Naples started selling cheap pasta and wheat products in the old kingdom.
This helped spread the pasta in different places, making it more accessible even to ordinary people.
As time went by, the introduction of technology and machines for pasta production makes the product more abundant everywhere. This made spaghetti a well-loved food among poor and rich people.
At the start of the 19th century, the spaghetti dish spread across the globe until Americans made it more famous on the international scene through their movies at the turn of the 20th century.
Some fun and interesting facts about Spaghetti
- Spaghetti is made of flour or semolina and water.
- In Italy, dried spaghetti is made from durum wheat semolina.
- Outside Italy, the spaghetti is made with other kinds of flour.
- Spaghetti is the plural word for spaghetto, in Italian.
- Thin spaghetti with tomato sauce has been prepared or served in Naples, Italy since the 9th century.
- The word spaghetti derived from the term spago, meaning twine or thin string.
- National Spaghetti Day is on every January 4 of the year.
- Italians only use a fork when eating spaghetti, by simply twirling it.
- In Naples, Italy, the people traditionally served the sauce with fatty meats like sausages, ham, or bacon.
- American cookbooks began adding meatballs made with beef as an accompaniment to spaghetti around World War 2.
- In March 2009, a restaurant in Garden Grove, Buca di Beppo, outside of Los Angeles, made a world record for the largest bowl of spaghetti, using over 13,780 pound of pasta.
- More than 1.3 million pounds of spaghetti were sold in American grocery shops and department stores in 2000 alone.
- If all the packages of spaghetti sold in America in 2000 were lined up, they could circle the planet Earth nine times.
- As part of the April Fools Day hoax, the BBC came up with a show on April 1 in 1957, saying the spaghetti grows on trees.
- Americans are known to use spoon and fork when eating spaghetti.
- The world record for the largest bowl of spaghetti reset in March 2010.