spaghettini alla carrettiera
A Roman sauce. The carrettieri operated mule-driven carts to carry wine and other produce to Rome from the surrounding hills. Their sauces were based on the least expensive and most abundant ingredients available. The recipe first appeared in The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, 1992.
Fresh tomatoes are blanched, for about a minute (so their skins can be slipped off) before being cut up and put in a pan with quite a lot of chopped garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. They are cooked over moderate heat for at least 20 minutes or until the oil separates from the tomato. Pasta is boiled and just before it is ready, plenty of fresh basil leaves are stripped from their stalks, torn (not cut) into small pieces and, off the heat, stirred through the hot sauce. A few leaves are reserved to be added as the drained pasta and sauce are tossed together. Canned tomatoes can be substituted when fresh are not available.
Don’t be alarmed by the amount of garlic the recipe requires. …it simmers in the sauce … and its flavour is very subdued.
Marcella Hazan
Hazan’s preferred pasta choice is spaghettini, thin spaghetti, but regular spaghetti is a satisfactory alternative.
With such simple ingredients, the flavour (and thus, success) of the dish relies heavily on using fresh tomatoes that have been ripened in warm sunshine. For most of the year, good quality imported Italian canned tomatoes are the better option. Supermarket basil rarely tastes of anything, at all, so make this recipe at the peak of summer, with just-picked basil from your own garden and the best tomatoes you can find.
This dish is featured in the pasta chapter of Marcella Hazan’s The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (Macmillan, 1992). This blog aims to illustrate and describe each pasta recipe from the book.
Classic Pasta Dishes 