After having already wrote about Carbonara and Amatriciana, here it is another classic recipe of the Roman cuisine: the Pasta alla Gricia.

This is the simplest of the 3, indeed only 4 ingredients are required: pasta, guanciale, pepper and Pecorino cheese.

But if apparently it might seem an easy recipe, to obtain the best result there is to take care to every detail, like always when few ingredients are used.

First of all the guanciale must be cut not too thin, otherwise we risk to burn it. It has to be cut in thicker slices and browned, but still soft and not crunchy. It must also have the right amount of fat and meat.

Then we have to “mantecare” the pasta in the pan, adding the right amount of boiling water to obtain kind of a cream with the help of the starch contained in the pasta. In this way the sauce will be perfectly attached to the pasta.

Let’s see.

INGREDIENTS (2 people):

• 200 g spaghetti (but also bucatini and rigatoni are common choices)
• 100 g guanciale
• freshly grated Pecorino cheese, at least 5-6 tablespoons
• freshly ground black pepper

1. First of all start boiling the water.
2. Cut some thick slices of guanciale. Remove the external spices and the external yellowish fat, and then cut it into smaller slices but not too thin. Take a pan and start browning the guanciale. In the same time put the pasta into the salted boiling water.
3. When the guanciale has released all its fat and got a brownish color (it will take about 5 minutes), add a ladle of boiling water, to avoid it burning and getting harder, and set the heat lower.
4. When the pasta is cooked very “al dente”, drain it and pour it in the pan with the guanciale. Add also a couple of ladles of boiling water and mix, to “mantecare” and obtaining the cream. Keep cooking it ad higher heat for a couple of minutes. Add also the ground black pepper and the Pecorino cheese.
5. Serve it, with some extra Pecorino cheese. Enjoy 🙂