Rustic Tomato Pancetta Pasta

Believe it or not, even though I have a huge passion for cooking and everything "kitchen" I run short of inspiration every once in a while. Thankfully, I happen to own a huge library of cookbooks that I refer to often, although they're darn near all memorized at this point. A trip to the library was in order.

I'm a huge Sheila Lukins fan who we sadly lost in 2009, but thankfully her work lives on in the form of several cookbooks, many of which I own with the exception of "All Around The World". I brought it home with me and planned some of this week's menus from it including last night's pasta dish.

A real garden fresh summertime pasta, this mildly flavored uncomplicated dish includes creamy ricotta cheese along with fresh tomatoes, parsley, shallots and lovely crisp pancetta. Sweetened with the addition of sun dried tomatoes and spiced with coarse ground black pepper it's served warm rather than hot or cold which makes it perfect when the temperature's hovering in the triple digits.

It's quite different - creamy, with subtle flavors. We agreed the more we ate, the better we liked it. If you're looking for something just a tad different, give this one a go. I doubt you'll be disappointed.

Note - there's no substitution for the ricotta cheese because really, nothing else except maybe mascarpone would work as well but you could substitute bacon for the pancetta and still have a winner.

Rustic Tomato Pancetta Pasta (adapted from Sheila Lukins, All Around The World)

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 ounces pancetta, chopped

1 cup finely chopped shallots

2 cups ricotta cheese

1 cup chopped Italian flat leaf parsley

1/4 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes

2 cups cherry or mini plum tomatoes cut in quarters

Salt and coarse ground black pepper

10 ounces rigatoni, cooked per package directions

Reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water

Red pepper flakes (optional)

Heat olive oil in sauté pan over medium low heat and cook pancetta until crisp. Remove from pan with slotted spoon and set aside in large bowl. Add shallots to sauté pan and cook until soft and golden in color. Remove from pan with slotted spoon and add to pancetta in bowl. Add ricotta cheese, parsley, sun dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and fold together with pancetta and shallots to combine. Add cooked rigatoni and toss together, adding some pasta cooking water as required to make a creamy sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with red pepper flakes. Serves 4 to 6. Download Rustic Tomato Pancetta Pasta

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Comments

[Mary]

This sounds really delicious and begs to be tried. Because our Oregon weather can be iffy, soup is not that all unusual for a picnic. The soup sounds more sophisticated than it actually is. It takes seconds to put together and was nice to have in 60 degree weather with winds gusting off the ocean. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

[June]

Mary - 23 more sleeps and we'll be leaving for the Oregon coast. I've been stockpiling soup and stew recipes and can't wait to be "cold" to try 'em out. Your soup looks wonderful and it's on my list.