Pasta with Pancetta, Paprika and Parmesan

Pancetta

1. Pasta with pancetta is a high-calorie dish and keeps you full for a long time, which is handy if lunch might be delayed. Hot chili and sweet paprika are great additions. You need only a little of each, and they go in at the very end of frying the bacon.

2. Choose your ingredients: pancetta with plenty of meat streaks and as little fat as possible, short pasta (penne, fusilli, pipe and so on) and good Parmesan.

   

3. Prepare and fry the pancetta. Be sure to clean off any remaining spices and salt. You can simply scrape them off with a knife and wipe the meat with a paper towel. If there is a rind, remove it too, as it is usually quite tough. Cut the meat into large cubes and fry in a dry pan to render the fat. If there is little fat, add 1 tbsp of olive oil. Do not salt the pancetta, as the cured fat is salty enough.

   

4. Add the chili. Peel a fresh chili and chop it finely. The heat is up to you, and a pinch of dried chili is enough. Add the chili to the pan and fry together with the bacon over medium or even slightly lower heat until the meat starts to brown.

   

Pasta and seasoning

1. Cook the pasta while the pancetta fries: bring 2 l of water with 10 g of salt to a boil (5 g per 1 l, since the pancetta and Parmesan are salty themselves, so we salt the water less than usual) and cook the pasta. We are using short curved tubes, pipe rigate, which cook in salted water in just 10-12 mins, depending on the brand.

2. Add the paprika and herbs. When the pancetta is nicely browned, add 0.5 tsp of sweet ground paprika and the same amount of a dried Italian herb mix. There are some excellent mixes on sale for cooking. After that, fry the bacon for no more than 1 min.

   

3. Combine the pasta with the pancetta. Reserve a little of the pasta water, as you may need it. Drain the cooked pasta in a colander, then transfer it to the pan with the bacon and stir well. Add half of the grated Parmesan (25 g), and if the pasta turns out a bit dry, add a little of the reserved water. Stir the pasta with the cheese and bacon well so everything is evenly distributed.

   

Serving

1. Divide the pasta between plates and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Serve only hot, as this dish is not meant to be reheated.

   

   Do not add fresh herbs, since this is a hearty meat dish. At home we sometimes add thinly sliced tomato to dishes like this, almost like a side dish, and you can try it too.

   You can use not only cured pancetta but also the raw product, as long as you fry it well. Sweet paprika can be replaced with finely chopped sweet red pepper, fried well. By the way, it is very tasty with a lot of cheese, as the combination of Parmesan and pancetta is simply wonderful.