Scarpariello Pasta Recipe | One of Italy Best Kept Secrets

This Scarpariello pasta recipe is super quick to pull together, fresh and couldn’t be easier to make.  In this blog post, I’ll show you all the tricks to get this plate of pasta on the table in less than 15 minutes. So let’s get started.

Starting The Sauce

First thing first, we are going to prep the sauce  Place a frying pan onto a medium-low heat and add a little splash of olive oil.

Peel one clove of garlic and add it to the pan whole with a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes, this of course can be more, less or none, whatever you like.

Next, the cherry tomatoes, just simply slice them in half and load them into the frying pan as you’re cutting them.

Once they’re all in turn up the heat a little add a generous knob of butter, around 30g, or just over an ounce.

The butter isn’t a traditional ingredient of SCARPARIELLO PASTA, but it adds a well-rounded creaminess to the end dish and pairs so well with the sweetness of the cherry tomatoes.

Cooking The Pasta

Get a pan of boiling water on the stove ready to go and add a generous pinch of salt. 

It’s famously said in Italy that the water should taste like the sea, if this puts you off because of the volume of salt just remember that the pasta is only going to absorb some of this water, so that means only some of this salt as well.  

Also, remember that this is our only chance to get some seasoning into the pasta, so if you’re a cautious seasoner try adding a bit more than you usually would and I guarantee you’ll notice a difference in taste. Mum, I’m thinking of you here.

Stay with the spaghetti adding a little pressure until it’s become flexible and it’s all submerged in the water.  Im using 200g of pasta, this is enough for 2 people.

Set a timer for 1 minute less than the packet instructions.

Back To The Sauce

Now give the tomatoes a stir or a flip and a little seasoning with some salt, not too much. 

If the pan feels like it’s frying too hard or looks like things are starting to burn around the edges then you can lower the heat a little.

This is something you’ll have to use your best judgement on, we want enough heat to break down the tomatoes in time for the pasta to finish cooking but not so much they burn and go bitter.

While all that is happening the only things we have left to do is pick the basil leaves from the stalks, I’m going to use all the bottom stalks to cook in the sauce and save these younger, smaller top leaves for decoration.

Lastly, finely grate some parmesan around 20g.  Some recipes use a mix of pecorino and parmesan, or 100% pecorino.  

If you can’t justify buying DOP Parmigiano Reggiano, then definitely try to source a Grano Padano over an imitation parmesan that is not from Italy.  

It’s usually around half the price of parmesan and beats the non-Italian-made cheese in every way, taste, texture, how it melts etc etc.

It ends up being a lot more cost-effective than the imitation stuff even though it’s more expensive to buy, because you have to use so much less to get the right flavour.

Finishing The Dish

Once you have 1 minute left on the pasta timer, the sauce should be cooked right down and looking a little jammy. 

Once the spaghetti is at its al dente stage, take it off the heat and with some tongs fish it out of the water and straight into the frying pan, don’t worry about getting any water in the frying pan we want it.

Turn the heat up under the frying pan, add the basil leaves and give the pan a shake and a stir to get the pasta coated in that sauce.

Add a bit more pasta water until you have this kind of lightly soupy consistency in the bottom, it’s kind of hard to add too much pasta water at this stage without just pouring the whole pan in.

So if you’re unsure go with a little more than you think, it evaporates off so quickly and you’re left with this starchy, light sauce that coats the pasta so well.

Fry that pasta for 1 or 2 minutes whilst tossing or stirring until most of the water has been absorbed and the pasta is cooked.

If your pasta is still too al dente for your liking, then add a little more water and place a lid on the pan this will help it to finish cooking.

When you see the piece of garlic fish it out, it’s done its job and given us a mild garlic flavour through this dish.

Once you’re happy the pasta is cooked, turn the heat under the pan off and add the finely grated parmesan cheese, stir or toss that in until you have this light, creamy sauce coating the pasta.

Usually, when you add the cheese, the pasta stiffens up slightly, so I’m adding a dash more pasta water.  This always happens with risotto as well, for example.

Now as always, taste for seasoning.  I always do this after adding the cheese as Italian hard cheese brings a saltiness as well.

At this stage, If yours looks drier than this then add a tiny dash of pasta water, you want it to be slightly saucy and the pasta is constantly absorbing the liquid.

I’d much rather have a slightly softer pasta that’s coated in a delicious sauce, over a perfectly cooked pasta that’s got no sauciness going on!

Serve it on a warmed plate and spoon over some more of the tomatoes from the pan, grate over a little more parmesan and finally add the basil leaves you saved from earlier.

The Taste Test

This pasta dish is another one of those Southern Italian classics that’s greater than the some of its parts.  

It’s fresh, summery and light. I encourage you to buy the best ingredients you can get to make this dish, it uses very few of them and this is a 10 out of 10.