This Spaghetti Amatriciana is my all time favourite pasta dish for date night! Picture this – a gorgeous prosciutto based and tomato sauce, served with thick ribbons of spaghetti or bucatini!
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Why I Love This Recipe!
OK hands up who loves date night! OK, hands up who loves pasta night!? Well if you’re a pasta lover or a date night lover, I’m pretty sure this spaghetti amatriciana is for you!
I absolutely love this recipe for many reasons, but the biggest win here is that this pasta recipe is so, so easy to make and super quick!
All you need is a food processor and some pasta and voila, you’ve got yourself a gorgeous date night pasta on the table in under 30 minutes.
I’ve made this many times for date night before and it never gets old. To enhance the experience, I serve this dish with crusty bread and a crisp glass of white wine.
Add in some candles for ambience, maybe a chocolate dessert, and you know you’re in for a good night!
Recipe Ingredients
To make this recipe, you need a few simple ingredients and equipment.
Aromatics – aromatics are ingredients that develop deep flavour when crushed or heated. In this recipe the aromatics include; brown/yellow onion, garlic and red chili. In Australia red chili is known as birds eye chilli.
Prosciutto – you’ll need good quality prosciutto or this recipe as well. You’ll need about 4oz, or 100-120g. If you can’t find prosciutto, bacon is a good substitute.
Tin Tomatoes – You need one can (400g/14.5oz) of diced tomatoes.
Chicken stock – you will need ½ a cup of chicken stock. I prefer to buy chicken stock cubes and dissolve them in boiling water. This saves having to open a full carton and it going to waste.
Parsley and Parmesan – to serve, sprinkle with fresh parsley and parmesan cheese.
How to Make this Recipe
This recipe is very quick and easy to make. For the full recipe, follow the recipe card, but here is the general gist.
- Combine the onion, garlic, chilli and prosciutto in a blender and bend until it resembles a paste.
- Heat olive oil in a large pan, and add the prosciutto mix.
- Fry off the prosciutto until fragrant, then add the tomatoes and the stock.
- Bring to a simmer, and simmer until thick.
- Serve with fresh spaghetti or bucatini.
Tips & FAQs
How can I serve this dish?
This dish is best served with fresh parsley, parmesan cheese and crusty bread. It goes beautifully with a soft red wine like a Pinot Noir, or crisp white wine like a chardonnay.
Does this dish keep?
This dish typically serves two people without leftovers. If you want to serve more people, simple double or triple the recipe. Leftovers will keep in an air tight container for a day.
What type of pasta can I use?
I always go by the motto – ‘fresh is best’ when it comes to pasta. I love using fresh spaghetti or bucatini. Bucatini is a hollowed out spaghetti type of pasta.
What dessert should I make with this?
If you’re looking to make this into a date night dinner I’d recommend the following desserts:
So whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day, or date night, or are in just in the mood for an easy kick-ass pasta, this spaghetti all’Amatriciana is for you! And really, you can’t go wrong with pasta!
Georgie x
Spaghetti all’Amatriciana
Equipment
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Blender
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Small Saucepan
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Larger saucepan
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Cutting board
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Knife
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Strainer
Ingredients
- 1 small brown/yellow onion roughly diced
- 2 garlic clove halved
- ½ red bird’s eye chilli or sub ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes/chilli flakes
- 4 oz prosciutto 100g, or sub bacon if you can’t find proscuitto
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes 400g can
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 6 oz spaghetti 170g, fresh works best
- 1 tbps chopped parsley
- 2 tablespoon parmesan cheese to serve
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
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In a food processor, blend the onion, garlic, chilli, prosciutto until chopped up and smooth.
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In a frying pan, heat the olive oil then add the prosciutto mix, stirring for about 5 minutes until fragrant.
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Add the chicken stock and tomatoes and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the sauce has thickened.
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Meanwhile, make pasta. Boil spaghetti in salt water until al dente (follow packet instruction if not sure how to cook pasta!)
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Once pasta is cooked and sauce is thickened, place strained pasta in a bowl, top with sauce and parsley and parmesan. Season with pepper.
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Serve with a chilled glass of white wine and crusty bread.
Notes
If you can find it, prosciutto tastes better. We couldn’t find any that was relatively inexpensive so we used bacon and it worked just as well!
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