spaghetti alla carrettiera
spaghetti alla carrettiera
You may have already come across one of the most famous Italian minimalist pasta dishes, Spaghetti Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino (spaghetti with garlic, oil and chilli peppers), A-O-P. But before we look at that dish, I’d like you to meet a very closely related, and, I think, much more delicious recipe, Spaghetti alla Carrettiera (cart-driver’s spaghetti).
The main differences between the two dishes, apart from the inclusion of parsley and cheese, are that all the ingredients in Carrettiera are combined raw and uncooked, while with A-O-P the garlic and chilli are fried gently before they meet the pasta.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO
(scroll down for the full method)
• prepare the garlic and chilli
• cook the garlic and chilli
• boil and cook the pasta
• combine the pasta and sauce
spaghetti alla carrettiera
INGREDIENTS
FOR FOUR PEOPLE
•2-3 cloves garlic
•1 fresh cayenne pepper
•EVO
•pecorino
PASTA
400g /14oz dry spaghetti
MANTECATURA
minimal to light (off the heat)
OTHER VARIATIONS
• Sage & Shallots
swap parsley, chilli and garlic for
fresh sage, black pepper and shallots
• Basil & Garlic
swap parsley for fresh basil
and use green chillis
• ‘Carettiera Rossa’
add sun-dred or roasted or
fresh tomatoes for the ‘red’ version
METHOD
You can actually begin by starting to boil the water for the pasta - all the ingredients will be ready to use by the time the pasta’s cooking.
First, grate about 3-4 tablespoons’ worth of peorino. Slightly older, drier cheese is better than a wedge that you’ve just unwrapped from a vacuum pack. Using an old-school hole-punch style grater, rather than a ‘microplane’ will also give you fluffier, sawdust-like shavings of cheese, which will combine and mix much easier in the final sauce.
Next, chop the fresh chilli into thin slivers. Taste a bit. Every chilli pepper is slightly different and it’s the only way of being able to judge how much you think you might like to put into your food! Just make sure you wash your hands thoroughly after handling the pepper and never rub your eyes, or use the bathroom, for that matter, after cutting chilli!
Pick some parsley leaves (no stalks) and chop about 2 handfuls’s worth, very finely. Crush the garlic and put it together with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a mixing bowl. Add the chilli and mix everything together.
When the pasta’s cooked to your liking, fish it out of the boiling water with a pasta spoon, and transfer it straight to the mixing bowl. Don’t throw any of the cooking water away just yet. Mix the pasta with the ingredients, then sprinkle on the grated cheese in stages, together with small amounts of cooking water from the pasta and the remainder of the parsley, to taste. You’re not trying to make a sauce, just to keep averything moist and lubricated!
Serve immediately.
NUTRITION per serving
KCAL: 498
Fat (g): 16.2
Sat Fat (g): 5.9
Carb (g): 74.2
Sug (g): 3.3
Fibre(g): 3.0
Prot (g): 18.8
Salt (g): 1.26
Nutritional information is provided as an indication only of approximate values for the recipe on this page. You should make your own calculations if you have specific dietry requirements or are required to follow a strict calorie-controlled diet.
