I had to do something with the newly created pancetta, so I decided to take advantage of summer's bounty of green things and make a nice light pasta dish enriched by homemade pancetta. These simple pasta dishes always remind me of childhood. I remember summer nights where my father would throw together all the fresh veggies we had with perhaps some of the leftover meat from the night before or maybe a bit of prosciutto and we would sit out in the back yard enjoy the simple meal and the hours after the intense Chicago summer heat had subsided. These meals were basically the product of my father's creative cooking mind and, in fact, really inspired me to begin cooking. The idea of taking whatever disparate elements you have and combining them into a cohesive final product embodied, to me, the true nature of cooking.
This simply dish could be turned into any number of different dishes based on what you have at home. Serves 4
Farfalle with Pancetta and Vegetables
2 large heads of broccoli
2/3 lb of green beans (French green beans are preferable as they are thinner and require less cooking)
10 oz farfalle
1/3 lb of pancetta diced finely
3 garlic cloves sliced thinly
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil, chiffonade
1/2 cup of white wine
1 tablespoon of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Bring water to boil for the vegetables. In a seperate pot boil water for the pasta. When the water is close to boiling begin to cook your pancetta at medium low heat in a large enough pan to hold all the ingredients in the end. Cook until the pancetta has rendered off a bit of fat and is starting to crisp up. Add your olive oil and garlic and allow it to soften and brown slightly. When the water is boiling toss in the broccoli stumps first as they take longer to cook, then add the florets and finally shortly after the beans. They will only need a couple minutes of cooking as they will get a bit more cooking time at the end of the dish. Also at this time you should add your pasta to the other pot. After the veggies have cooked for a couple minutes you can pull them out and drain them. A few minutes before the pasta is ready add the white wine to the pancetta and garlic and deglaze the pan. Pull the pasta from from the water with a basket strainer or a large slotted spoon, you want some of the pasta water to get added to the sauce. Cook the mixture for a few minutes until the pasta is almost al dente then add the vegetables, salt and pepper and mix it all together. Top with fresh basil and red pepper flakes and serve. I paired this with a Falanghina Feudi di San Gregorio, a wonderful bright white wine from southern Italy. Bon Appetit!
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