The pasta takes on a purple-brown hue and
sucks up all the wine flavor, and is then finished in a pan with
a bit of butter, olive oil, toasted garlic and splash of raw
wine.
Man, this is good stuff. I’m talking "off the charts,
eat-it-right-outta-the-pan" good, standing up, hunched over your
counter—a dish you want to keep on eating until a button flies
away from your midsection.All you need to reach a similar height
of ecstasy is a decent bottle or two of red wine—nothing
special, just good, drinkable red wine.
In Italy, this is the sort of thing you would cook with sfuso,or
loose wine that is sold, fill-your-own-bottle style by the local
enoteca, consortium, or vineyard. Don’t blow a bottle of riserva
on this recipe, but use a wine that you would not hesitate
drinking.
The only caveat is in stepping over the rule
of boiling pasta in a large amount of boiling water. Here you
can feel fine about cooking the pasta in less liquid than you
are normally accustomed to using. The proportion isn't as
drastic as some of the tests in
this recent New York Times article,
but it is important to stir the pasta often to prevent any
sticking. The overall reduction in liquid preserves the wine
flavor that the pasta absorbs,
and the final shot of wine in the pan concentrates it. I use
one-half part water and one-half part wine.
You can cut all of the proportions down for smaller servings.
For a single four-ounce portion of spaghetti, I use 2 cups water
and 2 cups wine.
Spaghetti All’Ubriaco (Drunken Spaghetti)
- serves 4 -
Ingredients
2 quarts water
2 quarts inexpensive (but tasty and drinkable) red wine, plus ˝
cup for the pan
1 lb. thick spaghetti or linguine
2 fat cloves of garlic, or four small cloves
2 tablespoons butter, salted or unsalted
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Peperoncino or dried red pepper flakes to taste (optional)
1/4 cup chopped, flat-leaf Italian parsley
Procedure
1. Add
the water and red wine to a 6-quart stock pot and place it over
medium-high heat.
Season the liquid generously with kosher salt and cover the pot
to bring it to a boil.
2. In
the meantime, peel the garlic and slice it. Place the butter and
olive oil in a sauté pan
large enough to fit the pasta and place it over low heat to
slowly melt the butter.
3. When
the water and wine come to a boil, add your spaghetti;
stirring as needed to engulf the pasta in the liquid. As the spaghetti
cooks, stir it often to prevent it from sticking.
4. Add
the garlic to the pan and wait for it to come to a sizzle.
Add the optional peperoncino for some heat, if you like and stir the
garlic, keeping the heat low to prevent it from scorching
5. When
the garlic is toasted pale and sizzling,
add the additional ˝ cup of red wine and a generous splash of
the
pasta cooking water to the pan and turn up the heat until the
liquid simmers.
6. Test
the spaghetti for doneness; when it is al dente, transfer it to
the sauté pan along with the parsley. Keep cooking the spaghetti
in the juices,
tossing and shaking the pan until the liquid is absorbed.
7.
Serve immediately on warm plates. The pasta is delicious without
grated cheese, but you can grate a bit of Pecorino Romano or
Parmigiano-Reggiano over the top if you like.