Spaghetti with fried egg

A first course with a strong and rustic flavor: here is spaghetti with fried egg. It is a poor recipe of the Neapolitan tradition, which has almost fallen into disuse, yet it is a dish that can be made in less than half an hour with a few but tasty ingredients. In Naples they are called "the poor man's spaghetti" because they are a dish that in ancient times even less well-off families had no difficulty putting on the table. Everyone had some pasta and eggs at home, just enough to make this recipe. The secret of spaghetti with fried egg lies in the goodness of the eggs and their cooking. The egg must already be tasty, so prefer organically farmed eggs, and it must be undercooked. The yolk must remain raw so that when you mix it with the pasta it breaks down and blends well with the cheese and pasta. The pasta, not least, must be tenacious to absorb the sauce well. For spaghetti with fried egg, you can cook the eggs in a good butter instead of in oil or, if you don't want to weigh the scales, in lard as it was done in the past, for an even more intense explosion of taste. Prepare them as an alternative first course for a dinner with friends: they will be pleasantly surprised!

INGREDIENTS

320 g spaghetti

4 eggs

120 g extra virgin olive oil + the one for seasoning dried hot pepper

grated pecorino cheese

salt

Pepper

PREPARATION

To prepare spaghetti with fried egg, start by putting the pot with water on the stove to cook the pasta. While the water comes to a boil, heat 60 g of oil in a pan, shell the eggs, two at a time, directly in the pan and cook them for 1-2 minutes with the lid on so that only the egg white thickens. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Cook the other eggs in the same way. Cook the spaghetti for the time indicated on the package, drain them, transfer them to a bowl and season them with plenty of pecorino cheese. Distribute the spaghetti on individual serving plates. Place the egg on top, season everything with a little crumbled chilli, ground pepper and a drizzle of raw oil. The spaghetti with fried egg is ready to be enjoyed.