All'Aricciarola
Short pasta, porchetta di Ariccia, and a mountain of Pecorino Romano. A dish from the fraschette of Ariccia, the porchetta is warmed, never crisped, and the cheese is mantecato into the pan like cacio e pepe.
Aricciarola comes from Ariccia, the town in the Castelli Romani above Rome that is famous for its porchetta. The dish is a recent invention. It emerged in the fraschette, the wine taverns of the town, where cooks found a use for porchetta trimmings that could not be sold by the slice. The fattier the porchetta, the better the result: warmed gently, its fat becomes the base of the sauce.
Only a few ingredients
Porchetta di Ariccia
Cubed, into a little olive oil. Just enough heat to soften the fat. It must not crisp or harden. The fat is the base of the sauce; the more the better.
not friedPecorino Romano
Grated very fine, held back until the pasta is ready. It goes in off the heat, a little at a time, exactly as it does in cacio e pepe.
Pasta Water
A ladle of starchy water into the pan with the porchetta and its fat. Off the flame, work in the pecorino in small doses, tossing hard, until it coats the pasta. Keep going. The sauce comes together at the very end.
The porchetta is warmed, not fried.
The porchetta must not crisp. It is heated only enough to soften its fat. That fat is what the pecorino emulsifies with, in the same way the guanciale fat works in a carbonara. Crisp, browned porchetta gives you a dry, greasy sauce. Warm it gently and the dish binds itself.
Rigatoni
Short and ridged, the standard for this sauce.
Penne Rigate
Another short pasta that catches the porchetta and the cheese.
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These sources we trust. Each one makes it correctly.
Other sauces from the same region
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