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(classical music)
Hey, what's up guys? Welcome back to "Binging with Babish".
With this week, we're taking a look
at the spaghetti all'amatriciana from "Eat Pray Love."
The basic ingredients of which you can see laid here
before me.
Now we're gonna make three different versions of amatriciana
starting with the most traditional.
For this, we're gonna need four ounces of guanciale,
an Italian cured pork jowl.
Which once we slice off the herb-crusted exterior,
we're going to cut into lardon,
or what I like to think of as very, very thick matchsticks.
This will hopefully make the meat easier to eat
with the spaghete.
Once that's all chopped up,
the only other mise en place we need to prepare
is pre-grating one and a half ounces
of pecorino romano cheese and locating one fresh red chili.
This is a Fresno chili
which is decidedly not Italian, but it will do.
Now over on the stovetop,
we've got a two-pot configuration to make our pasta.
First in a large cold saute pan,
we're starting to cook guanciale over medium low heat.
This stuff has a lot of fat that needs to render out first,
otherwise it'll be chewy.
So if it's browning too quickly,
don't be afraid to add a splash of water
to help things along.
After about 10 minutes,
once tender and beginning to turn crisp,
we're adding eight ounces of high quality tomato puree.
And that's pretty much all
that's in this very, very simple sauce
that's gonna cook for 10 minutes except for that chili.
Forgot the chili.
And since our high quality browns dye dried pasta
takes about 10 minutes to cook,
this is also the point at which we can add eight ounces
of spaghetti to a nearby shallow pot
of boiling salted water,
cooking it about one minute shy of its intended doneness
before adding it to the pan
where it's gonna finish cooking in the sauce.
For that reason, it's very important
to add a large splash of pasta cooking water,
about half a cup plus more as needed,
both to finish cooking the pasta
and help the sauce emulsify.
Once it's cooked to our desired degree of doneness,
we're gonna season to taste
with freshly ground black pepper.
And hold off on the salt
'cause first we're gonna kill the heat and add the cheese.
Mixing with great rigor
and adding splashes of pasta water as necessary
until the sauce lightens in color and becomes almost creamy.
If you got hunks of unmelted cheese, don't worry about it.
Just place the pan directly over the simmering water
and use the residual heat to take it the rest of the way.
Now you can season to taste with kosher salt.
And once you've fished out the spicy pepper,
this guy's ready to pile into a shallow bowl.
Twist it into nests using a carving fork
for food styling purposes.
Garnish with extra cheese,
a little sprinkle of salt and some pepper.
Why not? And there you have it, traditional amatriciana.
I really hope I don't get in trouble for saying that.
Now, the newest addition to our staff
and associate producer named Nico
has professed this to be his very favorite pasta dish.
So I wanted to get his take.
He's not here to record voiceover at the moment,
but he told me that it was really good,
but not spicy enough.
So let's see if we can make it gooder and spicier.
First thing we gotta do, as you might have guessed,
is make our own pasta.
I'm starting with 10 to 12 ounces of semolina flour,
dumping that onto the table,
and forming it into a very wide volcano
into which I'm going to deposit six ounces of beaten eggs.
Using a fork to start beating together
the eggs and the flour,
trying to keep the walls from tumbling down
until I can incorporate as much of the flour
into the eggs as possible.
But at a certain point,
you're gonna have to abandon the way of the fork
in favor of the bench scraper
and beginning to knead once all the flour is hydrated.
Now I said 10 to 12 ounces of flour,
but you might wanna start with 10
because if the dough ends up too wet, like mine did,
it's much easier to add flour than it is to add moisture
during its five to seven minutes of kneading by hand.
Once the dough springs back with enthusiasm when poked,
we can wrap it in plastic wrap
and let it rest for 20 minutes before beginning to roll out.
Now I have a tendency to under-knead my dough
because kneading is hard.
So if your dough's feeling a little too crumbly
or rough around the edges,
you can strengthen its gluten network by laminating it,
folding it over on itself like a pamphlet and re-rolling,
until it becomes smooth and somewhat elastic.
Bear in mind with semolina dough,
it might be rough around the edges
no matter how much you do this.
So maybe only do this like three times max
before rolling it out to spaghetti thickness
and passing it through your cutter.
Now, under-kneaded pasta dough is perfect for the extruder,
the ultimate "I really care about homemade pasta" accessory.
The hopper in a pasta extruder
beats the hell outta little pieces of dough
that you throw in there.
So fully kneaded dough can come out soft and sticky,
but slightly under-kneaded dough comes out just right.
Activate spaghetti guillotine
and thoroughly coat every strand in extra semolina flour.
You can't overdo this and doing it extra thoroughly ensures
that your little nests of pasta won't stick together.
You can cover and refrigerate these guys for up to 24 hours.
Any longer and the pasta's gonna start to discolor
and become gross.
Now, for the sauce.
In the movie, you could see whole chunks of fresh tomato.
So I got four large on-the-vine tomatoes
into the bottoms of which I'm going to cut a shallow X
before dropping carefully into some boiling water
for about 15 seconds
I said carefully, Andy. Don't embarrass me.
Once the shallow cuts begin to split wide open,
we're gonna plunge these guys directly into an ice bath
which is gonna make their skins very easy to peel off,
but leave their interiors uncooked.
Once we're relieved of their skin,
we're gonna quarter and seed these suckers.
Hang on to all those interior seeds and juices
and then chopping the tomatoes into a medium rough dice.
Making sure to press all those tomato guts
through a fine mesh sieve
to retain all that beautiful tomato flavor sans seeds.
Now for the meat, I'm sticking with guanciale,
but this time I'm cutting it into very thin slices,
ones that I think will be even easier to eat with spaghetti.
Then I'm gonna commit the cardinal sin of adding onion.
Which looked like it was visible on the plate in the movie.
Last up, for the spice factor,
I've got some Calabrian chilies here.
These things are having a moment right now
and I'm very grateful for it
because they taste really, really good.
Once seeded and chopped, we're ready to get started.
Same procedure for the guanciale.
But once all the fat is rendered out
and it's nice and brown, I'm scooping out the pork,
draining it in some paper towels,
and then in the resulting fat,
sauteing my small half a chopped onion.
About three minutes until it starts taking on some color
and softening.
Then I'm adding my chopped Calabrian chili,
letting that saute for about 30 seconds.
Taking off the heat if necessary
'cause guanciale fat smokes pretty easy.
And then de-glazing the pan
with two ounces of white wine and another, dare I say,
daring departure from the original recipe.
Once that's almost entirely cooked off,
I'm adding one cup of our chopped tomatoes and their juices,
along with an additional six ounces of tomato puree.
Cooking this guy once again for about 10 minutes,
but adding our fresh pasta to the water right at the end
because it only takes about two minutes to cook.
Cook your spaghetti to a state of al dente
before adding straight to the sauce
along with some pasta cooking water.
I don't know why I'm still using the slotted spoon.
At this point, I'm committed to it.
Tossing and cooking together minimally
so as do not overcook the sketti.
Then I'm gonna finish this guy
with a good glug of high quality Italian olive oil
along with the requisite romano.
Mix and emulsify those into the sauce off-heat,
and then it's ready to pile proudly onto the plate.
Put that carving for to non-carving use once again.
And just like in the movie,
garnish with a big old spring of basil.
And there you have it non-traditional, from-scratch,
and I hope movie-accurate pasta all'amatriciana.
If I didn't pronounce that right,
I swear it's 'cause I have a cold.
Now I might be biased, but this stuff has a deeper,
more complex flavor, and to Nico's delight,
it is significantly, but not overwhelmingly spicy.
And even though he tried to abscond with the bowl of pasta,
his boss was there to lend a helping hand.
Now, just in case you're watching this at 5:00 PM
and Valentine's Day dinner is like now,
I want to try making a quick and easy one-pot amatriciana.
We're starting with four ounces
of some of that cubed pancetta
that you see in the hotdog section of the grocery store
and sauteing for four to six minutes
until it's beginning to crisp and brown.
Then we're adding an eight ounce can of crushed tomatoes.
Making sure to scrape up any good stuff
that's on the bottom of the pot.
Adding a half teaspoon of crushed red chili flakes
and letting this guy cook for about 10 minutes
until liquid has reduced
and the sauce is starting to look a little dry.
Then we're adding 12 ounces of water
because that's roughly how much is absorbed
by a half pound of pasta.
Immediately start to stir and shake it up
so that it doesn't stick together.
Cover in simmer over low heat stirring frequently
for a few minutes longer
than the manufacturer's specified cooking directions,
adding water a quarter cup at a time
if things start getting too dry.
Then once the pasta is cooked al dente
or to your preference,
it's time to finish it same way as before.
Add the ounce and a half of grated pecorino romano cheese
and another quarter cup of hot water
if things start to get too gluey.
And there you have it, one-pot spaghetti all'amatriciana.
The stuff only uses a few simple key ingredients.
It's on the table in less than 30 minutes
and it still tastes really awesome.
You could mix and match almost any aspect
of these three recipes to suit your taste or timeframe,
and rediscover what you love about you
without having to tour the Italian countryside.
And even this quick, easy, non-traditional version
got the Nico and Kendall seals of approval.
We've already eaten a lot of pasta today,
but somehow this guy still ended up in the Clean Plate Club.
Thanks again, HelloFresh for sponsoring today's episode.
HelloFresh's pre-portioned ingredients and recipe cards
mean you get a homecooked dinner
on the table quickly and easily.
You can even customize select meals
by swapping proteins or sides
and choose the delivery dates that work for you.
They have options for carb smart, vegetarian,
family-friendly, and more.
There's something for everyone.
Go to hellofresh.com
and use code "BABISH65" for 65% off, plus free shipping.
The link is in the video description.
(gentle music)