Spaghetti Alla Carrettiera (Thin Spaghetti With Breadcrumbs)

Noo's Note:

Apparently this dish is named in honour of a carters wife, who travelled everyday to Rome from the countryside with her donkey laden with fruit, vegetables and wine. I don't know how true that is, but it's a good simple dish made with humble ingredients, and it's delicious.

• Total Time: 20 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 12 ounces thin spaghetti
• 5 -6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion , chopped finely
• 2 garlic cloves , chopped finely
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch oregano
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1 ounce butter
• 5 tablespoons breadcrumbs
• 2 ounces finely chopped parsley

Directions:

1. Cook the pasta according to instructions until al dente.
2. Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a frying pan and sauté the onion, garlic and parsley until lightly coloured. Add the salt oregano and plenty of pepper.
3. At the same time, heat the remaining oil and butter in a small frying pan and sauté the breadcrumbs until golden.
4. Drain the pasta and pour over the parsley/oil sauce then sprinkle with breadcrumbs and serve.

Reviews

[Sweet Baboo]

This dish is just amazingly good, and one would never suspect it by just reading the ingredients. I can usually tell if a recipe will appeal to my family, but this one surpassed my expectations. I used high fiber spaghettini and twice the amount of rough torn breadcrumbs from a quality nine-grain loaf. My vegetarian daughter sprinkled some parmesan cheese on hers, and my carnivore husband topped his with spaghetti sauce...each declared their meal delicious. Interestingly, my husband asked if there were bacon bits in the sauce because he liked the crunchy bits....the toasted breadcrumbs....and it made me think that next time I might try frying the breadcrumbs in bacon fat if I have any.

[herbsnflowers]

WOW! Sometimes simple is best. I made this because I had some leftover spaghetti & no sauce. I'm very glad I did. I made fresh breadcrumbs and added some Parmesan cheese shaken over the top of the finished dish. Next time I would use more breadcrumbs it added a nice crunch with the pasta. Thank you for the excellent recipe Noo.

[2Bleu]

I can't believe I forgot to add this one! This recipe made it into our Book #231450. 10/20/08 - Wow is this a great pasta dish! And because this dish is sooooo good, we did some research and found that it's traditionally a pasta dish served with a spicy tomato sauce, though there are also unusual variations on the theme and this is one of them,.. and a fantastic one at that! You are correct Noo, the recipe does take its name from the hand-drawn or mule-drawn "Carretti" (carts) that were used for bringing the wine and olive oil into Rome from the surrounding hills. This recipe is very unique indeed and gives it a wonderful buttery, crunchy texture to the spaghetti. We made as directed using regular spaghetti and also butter (and lots of it) along with the olive oil. We served it with Good Eats Chicken Kiev (From Alton Brown 2004) and they complimented each other quite well being different types of breadcrumbs (the kiev' using panko). For this recipe, we did use seasoned breadcrumbs as that is all we buy. Thanks Noo, we will be making this VERY often. :)