Pancetta Tomato Pasta

A quick and easy pasta to throw together, this Pancetta Tomato Pasta is perfect for any busy person or family. 

Homeschooling my three children this past 1.5 years, has proved to be an incredibly tedious task. Of course there is much joy in spending as much time as possible with them, but there are days when house chores and schooling pile up and simply get the best of me! 

Answering homework questions, correcting work, crafting, painting,  and educating, while throwing in loads of laundry, hanging and folding more laundry, cleaning and especially COOKING, (which  I normally LOVE,  but in particular takes up a lot of my time) means that lunch or dinner ideally, need to be quick and easy throughout the week days. 

This is one of my go to dishes!! You see, many smarter moms might throw together a simple sandwich for lunch every day and be done with it… but my children, whose father is a professional chef, have been rather spoiled culinary-wise…. So for them, cold meals simply don’t cut it. They claim that their bellies are unsatisfied if they don’t have a hot meal… even in summer! 

Maybe it’s an Asian thing too, as most of my Chinese friends (and Japanese friends) cannot eat cold dishes alone as a meal. They do enjoy them as appetizers, but always need a hot dish along with them. 

So among all my house and homeschooling duties, I tend to become a slave to the kitchen. So when I have a simple recipe like this up my sleeve, I’m sure to shorten my time there, and am also sure that my children will finish their meal happily and once again be ready to focus on their studies.

Pancetta (pronounced pan-che-ta) is a beautiful cured meat from Italy that is similar to bacon, as it’s meat is derived from the belly of a pig. It is used often for pasta sauces or to add flavor to soups.   Bacon does differ from pancetta however, in the sense that bacon is normally simply salted and smoked - therefore, it must be cooked. Pancetta on the other hand is  salted and dried and can therefore be consumed both uncooked or cooked. 

It is normally salted and brined for 10 days to 2 weeks. The brine itself contains spices that add flavor to the meat. It is then cold- smoked for around 1 to 1.5 days, adding even more depth to its flavor, and finally left to dry for around 3-4 weeks. 

Cheers to a quick and happy meal! 🎉 

INGREDIENTS: SERVES 4

100 g pancetta (diced)

700 g tomato passata (or 2 cans of tomatoes, blended until smooth)

5-6 cloves of garlic (sliced into lamelles)

1 medium yellow onion (diced)

1 tsp salt (or more to taste)

1.5 tbsp olive oil

350 g spaghetti

30 g grated Parmesan cheese 

Dried chili flakes (optional)

3.5 liters water 

28 g salt for pasta water (general rule of thumb is 8 g salt per liter of water)

METHOD:

Begin by heating up the water with salt for pasta. 

In a large, high-rimmed sauté pan, sauté sliced pancetta until lightly browned.

Add olive oil to the pancetta and sauté onion until slightly softened, followed by the garlic, sautéing until slightly golden.

Add the tomato passata (and chili flakes if using) and reduce the heat to low/medium, simmering the sauce for around 15 - 18 minutes depending on the consistency - pan should be partially covered (also as a means to avoid splatter due to the bubbling sauce). It should start to thicken slightly.

Cook pasta in boiling salted water according to instructions, once sauce is half way through cooking.

Strain pasta, reserving around 60 ml of the cooking water.

Reserve around 1/3 of the sauce to the side, and toss pasta in the finished sauce.

Add the pasta water a little at a time to pasta to ensure you don’t water down the sauce. The pasta water (now full of the pasta’s natural starch) will help the sauce bind properly to the pasta. 

Serve onto plates, top with an extra heaped tablespoon of the reserved sauce, followed by a generous sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately. 

Buon Appetito! Itadakimasu! Bon Appetit! Guten Appetit! En Guete! 

Gastronomically yours, 

💖 Pia