Spaghetti with Bacon and Olives

Name: Spaghetti with Bacon and Olives, Chili and Parmesan
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: Spaghetti 200 g; Water for boiling the pasta 2 l; Salt for boiling the pasta 14 g (7 g per 1 l of water); Bacon (raw, cooked or smoked) 100 g; Hot chili pepper 1; Garlic (optional) 1 clove; Parsley 5-6 sprigs; Olives with pits 12-15; Parmesan 1 tbsp (plus shavings for serving) (7 g)

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30 mins

A simple and very tasty breakfast: spaghetti with fried slices of bacon, chili and Parmesan, plus olives. It comes together fast, and the bacon is done while the pasta cooks. All that’s left is to combine the ingredients, sprinkle with cheese and serve. You can use almost any pork product similar to bacon, raw or cured. What matters is that you can render fat from it, and you can keep most of that fat for cooking other dishes. The recipe uses no spices or extras, so the pasta keeps its natural aroma and flavor.

Ingredients

2 servings

Spaghetti 200 g
Water for boiling the pasta 2 l
Salt for boiling the pasta 14 g (7 g per 1 l of water)
Bacon (raw, cooked or smoked) 100 g
Hot chili pepper 1
Garlic (optional) 1 clove
Parsley 5-6 sprigs
Olives with pits 12-15
Parmesan 1 tbsp (plus shavings for serving) (7 g)

Step-by-step recipe

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Bacon, chili and garlic

For breakfast, you can make spaghetti with bacon and olives from any available pork product similar to bacon. Raw pork belly, smoked bacon or prosciutto all work great. The product should be fatty enough that you can render fat from it. Some of that fat stays in the dish, and some you can save and use to fry potatoes, which is delicious. Buy olives with pits, dark ones or a mix.

Fry the bacon until crisp. Cut the pork bacon into thin slices. If it has rind, cut it off.
Heat a skillet and fry the bacon slices over medium heat. The fat will gradually render, and the slices will turn golden and crisp. Move them to a plate and pour the fat into a cup to cool. Be careful, it’s very hot. Leave about 1 tsp of fat in the skillet for frying the chili.
Fry the chili and garlic in the leftover fat. Whether to use garlic in this dish is up to you. Peel the chili pod and a garlic clove and chop them finely with a knife. Fry the garlic and chili in the skillet over medium heat for about 2 mins, until the garlic is fragrant but hasn’t darkened. This technique is used in one of the most common sauces for spaghetti aglio e olio, the Neapolitan version, or simply put, garlic and oil.

Pasta

Cook the spaghetti while you prepare the bacon. In a pot over high heat, bring 2 l of water with 14 g of salt (7 g per 1 l of water) to a boil and cook the pasta for the time on the package, usually 9-10 mins. Drain the cooked pasta in a colander.
Combine the spaghetti with the bacon, olives and parsley. Transfer the spaghetti to the skillet with the garlic and chili fried in the fat.
Add a handful of olives with pits. If the olives are salty, rinse off the excess salt first. Add the fried bacon slices. Pick all the leaves off the parsley, throw away the stems, chop the leaves with a knife and add them to the pasta too. Toss well. There’s no need to add any spices or salt.

Serving

Sprinkle the pasta with 1 tbsp of grated Parmesan (7 g) and toss again. Then divide the spaghetti among plates and garnish with a sprig of greens and shaved Parmesan. Serve while the pasta is hot.

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Calories and macros

510 kcal

Serving ≈ 290 g

Protein17 g14% of kcal
Fat14 g26% of kcal
Carbs74 g60% of kcal

100 g180 kcalProtein 6.1 gFat 4.9 gCarbs 26 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.