Creamy pistachio and pancetta pasta

Posted on by gloriouslygoodfood
Pancetta pistachio cream pasta

This delicious pasta dish was inspired by one of many mouth-watering meals we had in Sicily on a family holiday in 2016. Pistachios were found on just about everything (even spaghetti alle vongole!). This particular dish was really memorable – because it was simply heavenly, but also because of the location we ate it in…

We were at Bellavista Ristorante, a seafront restaurant on the North-Eastern tip of Sicily, in Torre Faro, near Messina – the very tip of the island, in the Strait of Messina, from where you can see across to Calabria.

In the photos below, you can see Hannah on the beach in Torre Faro, with Calabria a short distance away across the Strait, followed by the original creamy pistachio and pancetta pasta dish we ate in the restaurant.

  • Hannah on Torre Faro Beach
  • Creamy pistachio and pancetta pasta at Bellavista Ristorante
Left: Hannah on Torre Faro beach with the Strait of Messina (and Calabria) behind her
Right: Creamy pistachio and pancetta pasta at Bellavista Ristoratnte

So, nearly four years later, while having fun experimenting in the kitchen and creating recipes under the ‘Cooking with my daughter’ part of this blog (see also our Instagram account for photos, reels and live videos!), we decided to finally re-create this amazing yet incredibly simple dish.

In our recipe, we used home-made orecchiette (mixing up our regions, as orecchiette are from Puglia, but that’s ok – they work well with this sauce) – watch this space for the orecchiette recipe. They are remarkably simple to make. Meanwhile, take a look at our quick preview reel on Instagram.

Creamy pistachio and pancetta pasta sauce – Ingredients

(for 4 generous portions)

  • 200g diced pancetta (unsmoked)
  • 500ml single cream
  • 150g ground pistachios (we use the nut chopping/grinding attachment on the Nutribullet, which does this in seconds)
  • fine sea salt – to taste

Pasta – which one, and quantities…

Use a short pasta of your choice. We used home-made orecchiette (recipe coming soon!), but lots of different types of short pasta will work. For 4 generous portions, as a single-course meal, you will need around 500g of dry pasta.

If you are being more traditional and having this dish as a ‘primo piatto’ to be followed by a meat or fish dish, you’ll want to roughly halve the portions for the pasta and the sauce.

Method

Place a large pan of water over a high heat and add a generous amount of coarse sea salt (about a handful) and a few drops of vegetable oil.

While the pasta water comes to the boil, prepare the creamy pistachio and pancetta sauce:

In a large sauté pan, fry off the pancetta over a medium heat until it has browned and crisped off.

Drain off most of the fat, then reduce the heat to low and add the cream to the pan. Stir from time to time and, once the cream is simmering, stir in most of the pistachios (save about 25g for sprinkling later). Check for taste and add a little bit of fine sea salt if needed.

Once the water is boiling, cook the pasta to your liking (is there any other way than ‘al dente’?!). Once cooked, drain and add to the sauce in the sauté pan. Stir through with the low heat still on, then take off the heat and serve.

Sprinkle the remaining ground pistachios over each portion.

Pancetta pistachio cream pasta

Creamy pistachio and pancetta pasta | Gloriously Simple, Gloriously Good!

Advertisement

Cacio e Pepe pasta

Posted on by gloriouslygoodfood
Linguine Cacio e Pepe

Cacio e Pepe (Cheese and Pepper) is a simple, yet delicious way to serve pasta.  It is a typical dish from Rome, and can be served with spaghetti, linguine, or even short pasta such as rigatoni.

On this occasion, I made Linguine Cacio e Pepe.

Linguine Cacio e Pepe

Ingredients – Linguine Cacio e Pepe for 4 people

  • 500g Linguine
  • 200g Pecorino Romano cheese
  • Generous amount of freshly-ground black pepper
  • Drop of oil and fistful of salt for the pasta cooking water

Method

Put a large pan with water, a drop of oil and a fistful of salt on the hob and bring to the boil.  I usually advocate using the largest possible stockpot style pan for pasta cooking, but this recipe works best if you have very starchy water, so use a slightly smaller (but still ample) pan / less water than you usually would for pasta.

Once the water is boiling, add the pasta, stir after a minute or so, and occasionally during cooking, to ensure it doesn’t stick together.

While the pasta is cooking, finely grate the pecorino cheese.  The key to this recipe is the cheese.  Make sure you use a good quality pecorino romano and that you grate it as finely as you can – this will enable you to create the creamy sauce.  If the cheese is too coarsely grated, it won’t go creamy and will clump instead.

Grind plenty of black pepper into the pecorino.  How much you use, will depend on taste, but you are ideally aiming for a speckled look to the cheese, and for a good peppery kick to the sauce.

Once the pasta is nearly cooked (about a minute before it’s done), take a bit of water out of the pan with a ladle and stir it into the cheese with a fork.  Add a bit at a time (half a ladle or less) and stir each time, until you achieve the desired creamy consistency.

Cacio e pepe - the creamy 'sauce' consistency
This is what you are aiming for with the pecorino, pepper and cooking water.

Once the pasta is cooked, nicely ‘al dente’, drain it and immediately stir it through the cheese.

Serve onto pasta bowls and, if you wish, add a bit more freshly-ground black pepper.

Cacio e pepe pasta.  Gloriously Simple.  Gloriously Good! 

Tomato Spaghetti | Spaghetti al Pomodoro Fresco

Posted on by gloriouslygoodfood

Spaghetti with fresh tomatoes, basil and garlic

One of my favourite summer recipes – incredibly quick and easy to make

I love this recipe!  To me, it just shouts out “It’s Summer!” The colours, the scent, the flavours…everything comes together to give your taste buds a glorious treat.

Tomato Spaghetti

Ingredients for Spaghetti with fresh Tomatoes, Garlic and Basil (quantities according to taste)

  • Spaghetti
  • Fresh tomatoes, chopped up
  • Fresh garlic, finely chopped or crushed (about half a clove per person, but this is subject to individual taste)
  • Fresh basil leaves, torn or roughly chopped
  • A generous splash of extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt to taste
  • Ground chilli flakes to taste (add to individual servings at the dinner table)

Method

Bring a big pan of water to the boil, add a handful of coarse sea salt and a drop of oil (no need for olive oil here, it’s just to stop the pasta from sticking)

Put enough spaghetti into the boiling water for however many people you’re feeding and cook to ‘al dente’ consistency (cooked but not soggy, with a little bit of ‘bite’ left)

While the pasta is cooking, chop the tomatoes and finely chop or crush the garlic

Place these into a big bowl and add the chopped or torn basil leaves

Season with salt (to taste) and add a generous helping of excellent quality extra virgin olive oil

When the pasta is cooked, drain and immediately transfer into the bowl holding the tomatoes, basil & garlic

Toss everything together and serve immediately!

For those that enjoy a bit of spice, provide ground chilli flakes (we have ours in a salt/pepper mill set to its finest setting) and each individual can add these to their own portion, to taste.

Enjoy!

Tomato Spaghetti – Gloriously Simple, Gloriously Good!