Pasta cooked in red wine, affectionately known as drunken pasta, or pasta ubriaca, is outside the canon of popular pasta dishes from the Italian kitchen, but this simple recipe is as charming as it is effortlessly Italiano.
A few local restaurants in Florence stake claim to drunken spaghetti, or spaghetti ubriachi, and pasta alla Chiantigiana is a favorite in the wider region of Tuscany, where it’s made exclusively with Chianti and often includes pancetta. But versions of this inebriated pasta also grace the southern tables of the Mezzogiorno and Sicily.
Here, we embrace the spirit of southern Italy by cooking the pasta in plummy Nero D’Avola, adding pistachios (as the Sicilians do), and the coveted red Tropea onions, known as l’oro rosso, or the red gold, from Calabria.
Spaghetti All’Ubriaco
(Drunken Spaghetti)
Ingredients Salt Extra virgin olive oil 1 ½ cups thinly sliced red Tropea onion, or red onion if Tropea are not available 5 anchovy fillets, rinsed and roughly chopped 3 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper 3 cups dry red wine, preferably Sicilian Nero d’Avola or similar full-bodied Italian wine 1 pound high-quality dried spaghetti* ²⁄₃ cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley Zest from ½ of a large lemon ¾ cup shelled, unsalted
This Article was originally published on Wine Enthusiast
