Pasta allo Scarpariello

A double, triple check of the blog archives has just confirmed that I have not shared a pasta recipe on P&B since — audible gasp — January of this year, meaning that a solid six months have passed without a post involving the one food I never, ever tire of. This is highly out of character for a woman who unabashedly eats pasta for dinner a minimum of 4 times a week, so let’s chalk it up to an anomaly, shall we? In any case: allow me to right this terrible, carbohydrate-deprived wrong with a recipe for pasta allo scarpariello, a quick, easy pasta dish that is guaranteed to make good use of your summer tomatoes. Forgive and forget, yes?!

A little background: pasta allo scarpariello hails from Naples, a city that fries their pizza, soaks their cake in rum, and fills their lasagne with hard-boiled eggs and polpettine (little meatballs). In other words: Neapolitan cuisine is not afraid to be a little over-the-top, a little extra, and indeed, their scarpariello is sort of like the classic pasta al pomodoro, but, in true Neapolitan fashion, kicked up a knotch, dressed up, embellished. Our spaghetti tangles with the usual suspects — a heap of sweet, juicy, cherry tomatoes and a sprinkle of summer-y basil — along with a few gatecrashers at the pasta party. There’s a clove or two of garlic which goes toasty and fragrant in the pan, a small but mighty peperoncino, and not one but two kinds of sharp, punchy cheese (Parmesan and Pecorino, respectively). It gets extra points, too, employing one of my top kitchen tricks: a splash of starchy pasta water is swirled in to the dressed spaghetti before serving, emulsifying the cheese and making for a lusciously smooth and silky pasta dish. Indeed: this saucy, mildly spicy, very cheesey pasta is just the sort of thing you’ll find me making for dinner on a typical weeknight.

Fun fact: a little research taught me that pasta allo scarpariello was born in Naple’s Spanish Quarter, where the scarpari, or shoemakers (scarpa=shoe) worked. Mondays were the designated giorno di riposo, day of rest for the scarpari, one where they perhaps had more time available for a leisurely lunch. As legend has it, the shoemakers of Naples would combine the leftovers of the family’s Sunday tomato sauce with a good quantity of of cheese, an ingredient that any scarparo worth his salt had on hand: it was used as a sort of substitute currency for those clients who could not pay for their shoes with money. Indeed: I myself would take a hunk of Parmesan over a few euros any day.

A couple of notes: This recipe is pretty flexible. Any sort of long pasta would work well here — I might use bucatini next time (it’s my#1 favorite pasta shape) — but having said that, I also came across scarpariello recipes calling for paccheri . If you don’t have Pecorino, you can make this with all Parmesan, although the flavor will be slightly different. You can also use a minced fresh chili pepper if you prefer. Feel free to adjust the quantities of cheese, basil, garlic, and chili to match your tastes, too.

Looking for other pasta recipes? Click here.
Looking for other Summer recipes? Click here.

PASTA ALLO SCARPARIELLO

Serves 4.

Ingredients:
350 grams (3/4 pound) spaghetti
600 grams (1 1/4 pounds) cherry tomatoes
40 grams (1 ounce) of freshly grated Pecorino cheese
40 grams (1.5 ounces) of freshly grated Parmesan
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 small dried chili peppers (peperoncino)
Olive oil
A handful of torn basil leaves
Salt

Directions:
1.) Put a large pot of water on to boil for your spaghetti. Rinse the cherry tomatoes in the sink, then quarter each and set aside.

2.) Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a large frying pan (add enough to coat the bottom of the pan) and add the garlic and peperoncino. Let cook for a few minutes, or until fragrant, then add the cherry tomatoes and a pinch or two of salt. Once the tomatoes have burst and softened, add a bit of basil and stir well. Lower the heat on the pan and let everything simmer gently while you wait for your spaghetti to be done.

3.) Cook the spaghetti (following package instructions for al dente!) in your now boiling pot of water, being sure to salt the water well. Before straining the spaghetti, reserve a cup or so of starchy pasta water. Remove the peperoncino and garlic cloves from the sauce. Put the spaghetti back in the pot it was cooked in, and tip in the spicy-garlicky-tomato sauce. Note that you can also add the spaghetti to the frying pan, but as the pot has higher sides, it makes tossing everything together a little easier and less messy.

4.) Add the rest of the basil, plus both of the cheeses and a splash of pasta water into the pot with the pasta. Mix everything vigorously until the sauce is nice and creamy and smooth, adding in more pasta water if needed to achieve the desired consistency. Taste for salt, adjust if needed, and then divide onto 4 plates and eat with gusto.