The first thing I teach people, is to get a decent good durum wheat pasta that is not a supermarket brand or your standard popular Italian ones such as Barilla and Napolina. These pastas are quickly dried, resulting in the grain being fragile with a tendency to overcook during the 'mantecare' process.

De Cecco and Rummo are relatively easy to find and are a good compromise when it comes to slowly dried pasta, which should normally take 24 hours…….. I can talk forever about this.

The second thing is to get guanciale, not pancetta which is a little hard to find. Waitrose sells a good one. DO NOT use cheap tomatoes or chopped ones, they develop acidity and have very little sugar left in them, remember tomatoes are a fruit ;).  Get yourself San Marzano tomatoes if you can, again you can find them at Waitrose, or Mutti. It is always best to get plum tomatoes and blend them if you do not like the consistency, the plum retains water and sugar.

Some people try to cheat with lardons. The fat from guanciale is way more flavoured, hence it is important to use this ingredient. Most pasta dishes are only between 4 to 8 ingredients and it is important to get the right stuff to achieve best results.

200g of Durum Wheat pasta

400g small tin of plum tomatoes

130g of Guanciale

60g of Pecorino Romano

Olive oil

Parsley

Black pepper

Crushed chilli

Put a generously salted pan of water on the heat to bring it to a boil, and remember the less water the better to have a more starchy water to use at the end.

Dice the guanciale into rectangular shapes of about 1 inch long and half inch in thickness and put them in a frying pan, add a little olive oil, bring to a low heat and gently fry the guanciale until golden brown. The crispier the better. This can take as long as 8-10 minutes. Halfway through the cooking add chilli flakes to your liking. This is a very spicy dish but you can make it to your liking.

Once the guanciale is ready, you have two options. You can leave it in the pan, or take them out to drain on a kitchen towel. Some people leave them in the sauce. I prefer to take them out and use them at the end, so they remain extra crispy.

Next, add your plum tomatoes to the pan with the fat rendered from the guanciale, and break them with a wooden spoon (or hands before putting them in). Cook for at least 15 minutes on low heat. Your sauce is now ready.

Make sure you time the pasta cooking with the sauce. If you are not confident, make the sauce first and cook the pasta after.

Now that your sauce is ready, you can have fun with Mantecare (to whip) the pasta with the sauce and cheese. The secret is to use starchy water when combining the pasta with sauce. Start tossing everything together for 1-2 minutes on very low heat with chopped parsley to develop a silky consistency. Take the pan off the heat, mix the cheese and toss again.

Your pan is now on the warm side rather than hot, so the cheese will not stick to the pan and turn into rubber. This used to happen to all pasta-making beginners ;). Pecorino cheese absorbs a lot of liquid. Should the sauce be too thick, use more starchy water to get it to a silkier consistency.

Dish your pasta in a bowl and put the guanciale on top with more cheese.

Perfetto……… Got to go, I am hungry now!