Red Wine Spaghetti With Pancetta

Name: Red Wine Spaghetti With Pancetta
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Cuisine: italian
Ingredients: Salt and pepper; 1 (750-milliliter) bottle medium-bodied, dry red wine, such as merlot, pinot noir or Chianti; 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 5 ounces pancetta or bacon, thickly sliced and cut into 1/4-inch lardons, blanched for 1 minute in boiling water and drained; 1 red onion, cut into 1/8-inch-thick half-moons; 4 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced; Pinch of red-pepper flakes; 1 tablespoon tomato paste; 1 bay leaf; 1 pound spaghetti; 2 tablespoons unsalted butter; 4 ounces finely grated pecorino or Parmesan; Basil leaves, for garnish

By David Tanis

Total Time: 30 minutes
Rating: 4(953)
Comments: Read comments

An easy pasta, and a good one for every cook’s repertoire, this dish — known as “drunken” pasta, spaghetti ubriachi (or all’ubriaco) or pasta alla chiantigiana — requires few ingredients: red wine, onions, olive oil and grated pecorino. It can be made without meat, but usually it contains a small amount of pancetta, guanciale or Italian sausage. Well-seasoned and hearty, red wine spaghetti makes a fine impromptu meal.

Featured in: This Pasta Gets Sauced

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings

Salt and pepper
1(750-milliliter) bottle medium-bodied, dry red wine, such as merlot, pinot noir or Chianti
3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5ounces pancetta or bacon, thickly sliced and cut into ¼-inch lardons, blanched for 1 minute in boiling water and drained
1red onion, cut into ⅛-inch-thick half-moons
4large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Pinch of red-pepper flakes
1tablespoon tomato paste
1bay leaf
1pound spaghetti
2tablespoons unsalted butter
4ounces finely grated pecorino or Parmesan
Basil leaves, for garnish

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Put a large pot of well-salted water over high heat and bring to a boil. Add 1 cup wine and turn heat to low.
Step 2
Heat olive oil in a wide skillet over medium. Add pancetta to pan and let sizzle for 2 or 3 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Step 3
Raise heat slightly and add onion. Season with salt and pepper and stir to coat. Continue to cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Step 4
Add garlic, red-pepper flakes and tomato paste, and stir to distribute. Add bay leaf and all the remaining red wine and turn flame to high. Let wine reduce rapidly by half, about 10 minutes. Turn off heat.
Step 5
Bring pasta water back to a boil, add pasta and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes less than the package directions advise — that is, keep the pasta quite firm and underdone. It will finish cooking in the sauce.
Step 6
Reserve 1 cup pasta cooking water, and drain the pasta. Add pasta to the red wine mixture in the skillet and turn heat to medium-high. Let pasta wilt into the sauce and continue cooking, stirring, as pasta absorbs the sauce. The spaghetti should be correctly al dente within a few minutes and the sauce should coat the pasta. Add a little pasta cooking water if sauce gets too thick.
Step 7
Stir in the reserved pancetta, the butter and half the grated cheese and toss well. Taste a noodle, and add a sprinkling of salt to the pan if necessary. Toss once more and transfer to a warm serving dish. Garnish with basil leaves and pass remaining cheese at the table.

Ratings

4 out of 5

953 user ratings

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Comments

Prakash Nadkarni6 years ago

The idea of adding 1 cup/240 ml of wine to 1 gallon/3780 ml of water (the standard volume for 1 lb/454 gm pasta) seems dubious. The wine is diluted 1:16. Pasta absorbs 1.25x its weight= 570 gm water if cooked al dente, so it absorbs 36 ml wine - the rest goes down the sink. So you've just wasted good wine and fuel from simmering the cooking water for 20 minutes. I would either use all the wine in Step 4, or reduce the cup of wine, skip Step 1, and add to boiling water with pasta in Step 5.

seoul cooker6 years ago

This is a variant of a classic Provencal recipe, which I learned from Patricia Wells' At Home in Provence. Use a bottle of sturdy Rhone wine, a can of tomatoes, handfuls of fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary), garlic, a bit of anchovy, and reduce. It yields the most intense and delightful flavors. The reduction takes a bit of time, but it's very easy to make.

Liz6 years ago

I made the recipe as written and it was delicious (my pet peeve - those who say it was delicious and then list all the changes and substitutions they made). Will definitely add to my regular rotation. Used a pinot noir.

Casey4 months ago

Did this with a 3 week old bottle of opened Josh and it still SLAPPED

Jms5 months ago

Omitted the pancetta and only used half the cheese and we loved it. So delicious.

V8 months ago

I made this with a cheap and cheerful fruity Portuguese red, pecorino, bacon and the rest of the ingredients listed, as well as a few errant mushrooms that I sautéed and added with the bacon. I was really surprised how well it turned out! I was also surprised by how strongly the pecorino dominated the flavour, so at the table, I opted for Parmesan instead of the rest of the pecorino. The hubby and I enjoyed it, and we both think it’s one of those dishes that tastes much better than it looks, lol.

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