Our recipe starts with a simple set of five ingredients. In this recipe, we render guanciale to produce enough fat to sauté the onion and, of course, impart its flavor in the sauce. We also add a little chili flake for some zippy heat.
Finally, as in most Roman pasta recipes, we finish the sauce by adding starchy pasta water to emulsify the porky tomato mixture into a finished amatriciana sauce.
Important Note
While many recipes call for boiling the pasta in a large amount of water, we use less water for two reasons. First, a smaller amount of water takes less time to recover to a full boil once the pasta is added. Second the density of starch is greater with less water, creating a sort of loose slurry that thickens the sauce.
Begin by freezing the guanciale for about 30-45 minutes. This prevents the fat from melting in your hands and enables you to slice the guanciale (or pancetta) thinly and evenly.
Be sure to cut the rind off the guanciale. (Do the same if there’s a hard rind on the pancetta.) We like to slice our guanciale about a 1/4″ thick.
Chop the onions medium fine. Briefly set the onions aside.
Lay the guanciale flat in a cool 12″ frying pan. Turn the heat to medium high. Cook the guanciale until it just browns on the edges and the fat begins to render. You’ll use this fat to sauté the chopped onion.
Once the guanciale just begins to brown, immediately add the onion and crushed red pepper flakes. Sauté the onion until it’s soft and translucent.
Add the tomato puree and bring the mixture to a simmer. Simmer for about 45 minutes. If the mixture gets too thick, add about a 1/4 cup of water as needed. Be aware that the bottom may burn if the sauce gets too thick.
Bring the heat down on the sauce to just keep it warm.
To begin the pasta, boil about 5 cups of water in a saucepan large enough to fit the pasta.
Note
We use rigatoni in this recipe. If you modify the recipe and use a long strand pasta like bucatini or spaghetti, use a 12″ sauté pan to boil the pasta. If you use a large sauce pan, you’ll still need to bend the long stranded pasta to submerge it all in the small amount of boiling water.
About three minutes before the pasta is fully cooked, raise the heat on the sauce to medium high. Once the rigatoni is cooked to just al dente (you can taste to check), use a spider or large slotted spoon (a slotted wok strainer works great for this) to transfer the rigatoni to the sauce.
You have two choices here. You can either move about 2 cups of the cooked pasta water to a heatproof measuring cup or leave the pasta water in your pasta pot to ladle into the sauce later.
Once the pasta is transferred to the amatriciana pan, stir the sauce through the pasta. Begin pouring the pasta water into the sauce when the pasta and the sauce are mixed,
Continue mixing in the pasta water until the sauce reaches a viscous consistency. You’ll be able to see the bottom of the pan when you drag a wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan.
