Spaghetti all'Amatriciana

📝 Ingredients

• 400 g spaghetti
• 200 g smoked bacon lardons
• 1 brown onion (about 120 g)
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes (800 g)
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 60 g grated Parmesan
• 100 ml pasta cooking water
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Large saucepan
• Sauté pan
• Colander
• Kitchen tongs
• Wooden spoon
• Knife and cutting board

📖 Steps

1. Bring a large pan of water (about 4 litres) to the boil for the pasta. Meanwhile, halve the onion, peel it and slice it thinly, then open the tins of tomatoes.
2. Put the lardons in a cold sauté pan with no added fat, then turn the heat to medium. Fry them for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally: their fat melts gently and they turn golden and slightly crispy.
3. Lower the heat, add the onion straight into the fat released by the lardons and soften it for 5 minutes, stirring, until translucent and tender, without letting it brown.
4. Pour in the chopped tomatoes and sugar, season generously with pepper and stir. Leave to simmer gently for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens. Only add salt at the end if needed: the lardons are already salty.
5. Meanwhile, salt the boiling water (about 10 g salt per litre) and add the spaghetti. Cook for 1 minute less than the packet instructions, stirring for the first few minutes so they don't stick together.
6. Before draining, scoop out 100 ml of the cooking water with a mug: full of starch, it's what will bind the sauce. Drain the spaghetti and tip them straight into the pan of sauce.
7. Toss for 1 to 2 minutes over a medium heat with tongs, adding the cooking water little by little, until the pasta finishes cooking and is coated in a glossy sauce. Off the heat, add half the Parmesan and toss.
8. Serve immediately on warm plates, sprinkle with the rest of the Parmesan and finish with a final grind of pepper. Don't let the spaghetti wait: the sauce thickens quickly as it cools.