This dish may appear simple — pasta with tomato sauce — but it is in fact much more. A Neapolitan home tradition, the recipe takes its name from the cobblers of the city’s alleys. Why cobblers? Because they regularly received chunks of cheese from appreciative customers to thank them for their work. So, on Mondays — which were the cobblers’ day off — this pasta was prepared at home using the leftover tomato sauce from Sunday lunch, enriched with chili pepper, basil, and,.. extra cheese.

The ingredients for Scarpariello are simply spaghetti, fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil, chili flakes, and provolone, Parmigiano, pecorino, or other grated cheese. The secret of this recipe is the “mantecatura,” which means mixing the pasta as if it were a risotto until it reaches a creamy texture full of starch. In my recipe, the mantecatura is begun halfway through cooking.

This revisited recipe was inspired by the article “25 tasty pasta recipes that you may not know and have never cooked,” published in “Il Cucchiaio D’Argento” on July 2023.

Serves 4

Prep time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

Spaghetti (or other pasta shape of your choice): 10 oz

Cherry tomatoes: 18 oz

Grated Pecorino Romano or Parmeggiano or Provolone (or a mix of them): 2 oz

Basil leaves: 10

Red pepper flakes: 1 pinch

Extra virgin olive oil: 1 tablespoon

Minced garlic: 1/2 clove

Salt to taste

Method

Bring a pot of water to a boil for the pasta.

In the meantime, wash the cherry tomatoes and cut them in half. Heat the oil in a pan, add the minced garlic and minced chili flakes. As soon as the garlic starts to brown, add the chopped cherry tomatoes and basil.

Pour in two ladles of hot water and cook for 10 minutes over medium heat. Add salt to taste at the end.*

When the pasta water boils, add salt and the spaghetti. Stir and after about 4 minutes, pour all but about 2 cups of the cooking water into another, empty pot. Continue cooking the spaghetti until the remaining water evaporates or is absorbed by the pasta, stirring constantly. Pour the cooked cherry tomatoes into the pot with the spaghetti (keep a few tablespoons apart for decoration) and add another ladle of cooking water. Mix continuously, and add water as soon as the liquid is reabsorbed, as if it were a risotto.

When the pasta is almost cooked, add the grated cheese. Add more pasta cooking water if needed, and continue to stir and mix until a creamy sauce is obtained.

When the Scarpariello pasta is creamy, top it with the cooked cherry tomatoes you set aside and a few leaves of fresh basil to taste.

Serve and “buon appetito”!

Enjoy your meal!”

*to preserve the beautiful red color of the tomatoes

References

Il Cucchiao D’Argento. (n.d.-a). 25 ricette gustose di pasta che forse non conosci e non hai mai cucinato. Il Cucchiaio D’Argento. https://www.cucchiaio.it/fotogallery/ricette-pasta-gustose/

Il Cucchiao D’Argento. (n.d.-b). Ricetta Pasta allo scarpariello. Il Cucchiaio D’Argento. Retrieved July 13, 2023, from https://www.cucchiaio.it/ricetta/pasta-allo-scarpariello/