Springtime Dinner - Pasta with Asparagus & Pancetta

With it getting warmer around here, Josh and I are starting to get our garden going. Perhaps I'll post a little bit more on that later, but we're hoping to grow a bunch of vegetables and herbs again this year, as well as receive lots of delicious goodies from our community garden CSA. Along with various farmer's markets starting up, I'm hoping to significantly cut back on what we need to buy from the grocery store. It's a happy time. 

Along with the promise of fresh, local produce again, I've been pulling out some of my cookbooks and magazines, and searching for recipes that capitalize on some of this Spring goodness. Below is a recipe I found in the March 2010 issue of Cooking Light. I haven't actually used pancetta before, but have been wanting to, and this looked like a great opportunity to try. Not to mention it makes great use of fresh asparagus, which is the first local produce to hit our area.

This recipe went together really easily and pretty quickly, and Josh and I really enjoyed it. The flavors are delicate and rich at the same time, and it was a deliciously light and filling Springtime dinner. The only adjustments I made were to add a little more garlic (the original recipe called for 1 teaspoon - I used 3 cloves), and a little less than 1/4 cup cheese, but aside from that, it's pretty much all the same. Enjoy!

Pasta with Asparagus, Pancetta, and Pine Nuts

Makes: 4 servings

Total: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 8 oz cavatappi pasta - I couldn't actually find cavatappi, so I just used rotelle
• 1 pound asparagus, trimmed and diagonally cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Tablespoons pine nuts
• 2 oz pancetta, diced
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup (1 oz) Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, crumbled
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Cook pasta according to directions, omitting salt/fat if it calls for it. As you wait for the water to come to a boil, trim and diagonally cut the asparagus into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Add the asparagus to the pasta for the last 3 minutes of cooking. Also, while the pasta is cooking, go ahead and mince the garlic and dice the pancetta.
3. When the pasta is done, drain and sprinkle pasta mixture with garlic. Return to pan and toss well.
4. When the oven is ready, arrange pine nuts in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan (baking pan with edges). Bake at 400 for 2-3 minutes, or until golden and fragrant, stirring 1-2 times. Take out and place in a small bowl.
5. Increase the oven temperature to 475. Arrange the pancetta on the same baking pan. Bake at 475 for 5-6 minutes, or until crisp.
6. Combine lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper with a whisk. Drizzle over pasta mixture; toss well to coat. Sprinkle with pine nuts, pancetta, and cheese.