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orecchiette con melanzane e bacon

orecchiette with melanzane and bacon

I'm a big fan of pasta sauces which are based around just a couple of star ingredients, and this is exactly that. As with other sauces in this book, remember that God has given us wonderfully versatile PIG, and you can choose to use many different cuts of meat from that animal to bring differences and subtleties to your sauces. I've used bacon here but of course sausage, pancetta, guanciale or even pork shoulder can all work very well.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO
(scroll down for the full method)

  • prepare the ingredients

  • salt the aubergines

  • cook the aubergines

  • cook the sun-dried tomatoes

  • make into a sauce, simmer

  • fry the bacon, chop

  • boil the pasta

  • combine pasta and sauce

  • add bacon

  • add aubergines

orecchiette with melanzane and bacon

INGREDIENTS

FOR FOUR PEOPLE

  • 1 large melanzana

  • 6 rashers smoked bacon

  • 200g sun-dried tomatoes in oil

  • 1 garlic clove

  • white wine

  • fresh basil

  • ricotta salata


PASTA

Fresh Orecchiette (Martimucci)


MANTECATURA (?)

none, simply combine

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METHOD

There's a lot of debate (at least in our household) about whether aubergines (that's MELANZANE) should be sliced and salted before cooking. My wife says no, they're now grown to eliminate the bitterness they had in the past.... I say it can't hurt, so I do the old-school slicing and salting and letting the melanzane lose some of their bitterness (if there is any!) and water for about an hour before cooking. If you do this, remember to rinse them quickly and then pat them dry immediately with a kitchen towel.... after removing moisture you don't want to add it back!


Fry the melanzane in EVO and a sprig of rosemary until they're nicely coloured. Don't overdo the oil as the melanzane will soak it up like little sponges and you'll have an incredibly heavy sauce. When they're golden brown drain them from the cooking oil and set them aside.


Next drain the tomatoes from their oil in the jar and chop into slivers about 7mm wide. In a saucepan, fry them on a medium heat with a splash of wine and after a few minutes add the chopped garlic. Turn the heat down to low and stir regularly as you let everything simmer and the tomatoes begin to break down. Throw in a leaf or six of fresh basil. Add a few tblspns of water at a time if the sauce begins to dry out. Season with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Set the sauce aside.

In a good non-stick pan dry fry the bacon rashers. Let them colour and crisp slightly as the rind begins to render. Set them aside and cut them into thin slivers. Boil and cook the pasta. The chilled, pre-prepared orecchiette take very little time to cook; keep tasting and checking them so they don't overcook!


When the pasta is cooked to your liking (with fresh pasta I prefer soft and chewy, not completely boiled to zero resistance!), fish it out and add it straight to the sauce in the sauce wok. Toss to combine and sprinkle on at least half a cup of ricotta salata, or to taste. Consider adding some cooking water from the pasta if things are drying up too much.


Throw in the bacon, toss and combine. Add the melanzane, toss and combine. Serve immediately. NB Ricotta salata is a hard cheese and won't melt much in the sauce, so it can survive being tossed and combined ON the heat without splitting. NB It's not as flavourful as pecorino but does add a creaminess which is really typical of southern Italian sauces. (If you prefer a little more of a cheesy bite, add some pecorino at the table).

NUTRITION per serving

  • KCAL: we're working on it!

  • Fat (g): TBC

  • Sat Fat (g): TBC

  • Carb (g): TBC

  • Sug (g): TBC

  • Fibre(g): TBC

  • Prot (g): TBC

  • Salt (g): TBc

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