Farfalle with British Pancetta and Italian Artichokes
I have an Italian recipe for you today – using ‘farfalle,’ bow-tie or butterfly pasta and a tasty sauce flavoured with British pancetta, garlic, artichokes, fresh spinach, tomato and cream. This is a lovely supper for a chilly evening and one that reminds me of our wonderful trip to Northern Italy late last spring. A piping hot plate of pasta is the perfect dish to serve up to a large family. The recipe itself is inspired by a new range of Italian products called Parioli Cucina to the theme of ‘seasonal, Italian and savoury.’
One of the things I noticed in Italy, particularly when wandering around the food markets of Bologna, was the abundance of fresh artichokes on offer. The same doesn’t really translate over in Britain and I always think that we’re short of ideas on what to do with artichokes. Granted, preparing fresh artichokes takes a tiny bit of practice, although I follow the steps outlined by David Lebovitz here. As David says “Artichokes are not hard to prepare but they do take a bit of determination.” Since fresh artichokes usually come into season during the late spring (May/June) a good alternative is to use an authentic supply of artichokes in a jar, which are harvested in season, marinated, grilled and then preserved in vegetable oil. I’ve also added British spinach to my dish, from Kent.
A quick note on the British pancetta, too. I was looking out for Italian pancetta, but this caught my eye at the supermarket and as I haven’t seen British pancetta before I was keen to try it. I was impressed to read that it is hand-cured, made with outdoor bred pork and is air dried for ten days. The smoked pancetta really made the dish. It gave it a little extra edge, complimenting the grilled artichokes and fresh spinach beautifully. If you can find some smoked pancetta, do try it in this recipe. Otherwise, use any good quality Italian pancetta you can find.
As to the rest of the ingredients from Parioli Cucina, these are made and imported from Italy. Parioli is a neighbourhood in the north of Rome in Italy and the range includes dried pasta, sauces, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, chopped and plum tomatoes, antipasti (including the grilled artichokes) and olives. For this recipe, I used the Parioli farfalle pasta – which I really liked because the pasta bows were quite small and bite-sized; smaller than farfalle I’ve tried in other ranges. The pasta had a good bite and worked really well with my sauce. I also used some of their tomato sauce called ‘Basilico’ – a Sicilian basil and tomato sauce, made with vine ripened tomatoes from the Puglia region and fresh basil leaves from Neapolitan farms. The sauce had a very rich flavour and I would say was of a better quality to any of the more well-known branded pasta sauces that I’ve tried.
So, all in all, a lovely mix of flavours and textures with both British and Italian ingredients.
I hope you get to try this dish. Let me know if you do and whether you agree with me on the quality of the products used.
Farfalle with British Pancetta and Italian Artichokes
Ingredients
- 400 g Farfalle or bow-tie pasta 100g per person, I used Parioli Cucina Pasta
- 2 teaspoons olive oil or oil from the jar of artichokes
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped or grated
- 180 g pancetta I used Tesco finest British smoked pancetta
- 280 g jar grilled artichoke hearts drained, oil reserved, I used the Parioli Cucina brand
- 170 g or half a jar tomato and basil pasta sauce I used Parioli Cucina ‘Basilico’
- 450 g/ 2 cups fresh spinach
- 80 ml or 1/3 cup double/heavy cream
- Sea salt for the pasta water
- Optional Parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Cook the farfalle according to the packet instructions, or until al dente. When the pasta is cooked, take out one cup of the pasta water and set aside. Drain the rest of the pasta until the sauce is done.
- Heat two teaspoons oil in a frying pan, add the garlic and chopped pancetta. Fry until the pancetta is golden brown. Finely chop the artichoke hearts and add them to the pan, stir well. Pour in the tomato sauce and bring to the boil. Stir in the fresh spinach and keep stirring until wilted. Finally, add the reserved cup of pasta water to the pan and stir in the double cream and take the pan off the heat.
- Mix the cooked pasta with the sauce. Serve whilst piping hot, with Parmesan cheese grated over the top, if you like.
I’m linking this recipe up with Simple and in Season, a community blog event hosted by me here. The spinach wilted down so much I could have really used twice the amount. It’s also a lovely recipe to bookmark for late Spring when we start to see fresh artichokes in season, too.
With many thanks to Parioli Cucina for inviting me to create this recipe.Â
I post snippets of my online published content and link them
back to the source. There are also a wide range of foods that can help you shed pounds quickly.
Thank you, hope you did get to try it, appreciate the comment.
I don’t usually think of farfalle with tomato based sauces but this looks fabulous and the photos are beautiful. I am off to Tesco shortly and will look out for that finest pancetta, I don’t remember seeing that one in my local before.
Hope you find it! We love farfalle – always reminds me of little butterflies 🙂
I’m going to try this without the pancetta. I don’t use farfalle often. I really need to vary my shapes and not just serve penne all the time. Such a tasty looking dish.
Thanks Jac, yes a handful of mushrooms would be lovely instead, I think your combo with mushrooms and artichokes, too.
Ren, what a gorgeous recipe. I always bring jars of artichoke hearts back from Brittany, (they grow in abundance near us), so it’s wonderful to find a new recipe for them.
Oh wow, French artichokes would be so lovely for a little French twist 🙂
This looks so good! I haven’t used a ready made sauce but there is a first time for everything or I guess I could just substitute my own? Looks like a delicious combination!
Absolutely, you could easily use your own tomato sauce with just a splash of fresh double cream. The real flavour is in the pancetta and in the artichokes.
Made this for supper tonight and everyone lived it. Very tasty. Thanks so much,
Wonderful news! Thank you so much for letting me know Claire! x
I’ve been really impressed by the growing movement of British curing and charcuterie. Lovely pics as always Ren.
Thanks Sally – the sugar bowl (with the Parmesan) is from the Pip range!! A little friend for the blue jug 🙂
This looks so delicious, a fabulous Italian inspired dish. It’s great that more supermarkets are stocking pancetta, it’s such a versatile ingredient. GG
Thanks for the lovely comment, yet British pancetta and charcuterie in general is becoming more and more available as well as really good quality authentic stuff!
oooh Ren that really looks gorgeous.. I’ve had a couple of really bad bowls of pasta recently and it’s made me wary of ordering it again but this dish looks so good I just have to make it! Happy Belated New Year x
Hi Dom, thanks so much for stopping by. Hope this goes some way to rectifying the bad bowls of pasta. It’s such a classic thing to get wrong, though it’s such a simple dish. We’re lucky to have a really authentic Italian close by for when I need a Napoli-style proper al dente fix – if not at home!
It looks delicious Ren, I am so excited about ho mainstream British charcuterie has become.
A lovely recipe and photos! Thank you for sending to Extra Veg.
Thank you Helen, excited to join in with Extra Veg and yes, great to champion British homegrown produce.
This is exactly the sort of food everyone wants to eat at this time of year. And this post is doing nothing for my grumbling stomach post a bowl of beetroot soup for lunch. Argh! x
Thank you Leyla, all the best for 2014, thanks for stopping by. Hope you’ve been on some tasty food adventures yourself!
Looks lovely Ren. I love dishes like this that are inspired by other countries but make excellent use of great British produce. Can’t believe I still have homemade pancetta from our pigs in the freezer and spinach still growing in the garden (thanks to our mild winter) – would be delicious in this.
Gosh that’s amazing Andrea, you’re so inspiring, British pancetta from your own pigs in the freezer and home grown spinach. All you need now is a little jar of artichokes and you’re on your way! xx