I love to cook simple wholesome food for my friends and family, so I’ve started Look What’s on My Plate largely as a means to share those recipes with you all.
This newsletter will include local places I like to eat out and visit, along with a few lovely travel spots. I’ll also add some things that I enjoy using, listening to, thinking about and wearing.
The first recipe I’m sharing is an easy pasta that’s especially lush to make during the spring, while you can get your hands on fresh peas.
I do often substitute with frozen peas and that works well for the rest of the year. You can use streaky bacon if you aren’t able to find pancetta. When I was vegan I also made a delicious version of this dish with the crispy mushrooms, peas and oat cream to thicken.
This recipe is wonderful because you prepare the vegetables and meat whilst the pasta water heats up, then the sauce comes together in the time the pasta actually takes to cook. Preparation and cooking time is about 25min total.
I think it’s best to fry your pancetta first, then use the remaining fat to cook and flavour the vegetables.
It’s also important to use a pasta that coats well, ideally with some ridges for sauce to fall into (rigatoni or shells, otherwise a long pasta like fettucine is nice).
Recently I didn’t have any mushrooms, but did have a bag of green beans so I just switched them out. I cut the beans up and steamed them for 2 min then stirred into the sauce as I added the peas (pictured below), it was really good.
Pea pasta with pancetta, mushroom and cream
serves 4
Ingredients:
150g peas
100g mushrooms
80g pancetta
1 large or 2 small shallots
2 garlic cloves
200ml cream
1 large knob of butter
1tsp. each, salt & pepper
1 tsp. thyme leaves
500g rigatoni (this recipe uses dry pasta)
about 50g Parmesan
Method:
Put a large pot of salty water on the stove to come to a boil
Peel and finely dice the shallot and garlic, then finely slice mushrooms
Chop your pancetta into small pieces
Add pasta to boiling water and try to stir that a few times while making the sauce
Meanwhile, heat a large deep pan on medium and add pancetta, stirring every 30 seconds
Use tongs to remove the pancetta from pan when it’s golden, and place it on a small plate or paper towel
Add the shallot and garlic to the pan with remaining pork fat and stir for 1 min
Add the mushrooms, thyme, salt, pepper and butter then let that cook down for about 3 mins, stirring a few times
Spoon a few tablespoons of the cooking water to the pan, plus the crispy pancetta
Immediately reduce heat to low, then combine the cream and peas into the sauce
Heat that for 1-2 min until everything is warm (some finger dip testing is encouraged)
Use a pasta spoon to transfer the cooked pasta to the pan and stir to combine (add extra pasta water or another dash of cream if you’d like a looser sauce)
Grate half of the cheese into the pan with your sauce, then use the other half to garnish each bowl as you serve it up
I’m so thrilled to be sharing my food with you, thank you for reading (and hopefully cooking) the first recipe of Look What’s on My Plate.
With love,
Indigo.
Yum!