Rockets and cherries and nuts, oh my!

This is something I threw together last night and I simply cannot keep it to myself. It’s incredibly simple and such a perfect combination of ingredients, that I’m sure it has be an already existing dish. After all, someone must’ve thought of this combination before. So, even though the recipe came to me yesterday whilst on the train, like some kind of Harry Potter-esque Divine Inspiration, I’m not claiming this as my invention. My only claim is that it’s awesome and it has to be shared with the world.

Put a pan on the heat and add either bacon or pancetta cubes (not smoked). Give them a few minutes, to render out some of the fat (pour some off if it’s a crazy amount), before adding a few chopped shallots (you want about a handful, when chopped). You want the bacon/pancetta to be tender, not crisp, and the shallots to turn translucent. Add two or three finely chopped garlic cloves. After a minute or two, turn up the heat and add good glass of dry white wine. This will both sputter and bubble, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Take about ten cherry tomatoes and cut them in half. Add them to the pan as the wine cooks down. The tomatoes will turn to mush pretty quickly and once they have you can use some tongs to fish out the skins (or you can go all Jamie Oliver and leave them in, in that case I think the term you’ll want to use later is ‘rustic’). When most of the liquid has evaporated and the tomatoes have turned the wine into a runny sauce, add a tin of chopped tomatoes, a good grinding of black pepper and about a quarter teaspoon of chili flakes. There’s no need to add salt, after all both bacon and pancetta, whichever one you’re using, are plenty salty and you’ll be adding parmesan later as well. Bring the sauce up to a gentle simmer while you get on with cooking the pasta. Use casareccia or something of that ilk. After a few minutes remove half a cup of starchy water from the pan and add that to the sauce. When the pasta is just cooked, drain and add to the sauce. Stir well to coat every piece, further tenderizing the pasta. When ready to serve, spoon the pasta with the sauce into bowls. Add a few quartered cherry tomatoes, fresh and zingy. Sprinkle over some parmesan flakes, top that with a good handful of crunchy, peppery rocket, some more parmesan and finally a generous sprinkling of toasted pine nuts. As Donna Hay would probably say, this recipe really does tick every box.