Looking for a quick dinner the other evening, I threw together this pasta dish. I would have used pancetta, but it’s not available in my grocery store. They do carry “fresh bacon block” which is unsliced bacon and worked quite nicely instead of pancetta.
Orecchiette with Bacon
serves 3-4
250 g orecchiette pasta (or shells, sprials, penne)
1 zucchini
1 red pepper
12 white button mushrooms
10 cm bacon block
grana padano or parmesan cheese to garnish
salt and black pepper to taste
Put the water on to boil the pasta. Slice the vegetables and bacon into sticks about 3 cm x .5 cm. Heat a frying pan and add the bacon, stirring frequently to cook until brown and nearly crispy. Remove from pan, leaving bacon grease. Fry the peppers, mushrooms and zucchini in the grease. When soft but not mushy, remove vegetables from pan. Cook the pasta, drain and mix with the bacon and vegetables. Season with black pepper and salt; garnish with cheese.
Serve with salad and garlic bread.
Posted by kuri at August 12, 2004 03:48 PMApart from the fact that the name of the Pasta is “orecchiette”, i.e., little ears, your recipe sounds good.
Posted by: Pensieri Oziosi on August 12, 2004 05:47 PMThanks for the spelling correction; I’ve put all the vowels in the right places. I love Italian food, but never seem to get Italian words right. Hope you enjoy the dish.
Posted by: Kristen on August 12, 2004 06:15 PM