I landed this morning and went to pick up the children from school. After five days of no Mummy I was expecting lots of hugs and excitement. They came running towards me shouting Mummy, saw Daddy, did a quick divert and Daddy got the hug ... that will teach me to go away.
We went home for present opening, luckily the strawberry shortcake doll was better than the requested ballerina that could not be found in any of the four toy shops we tried in Toronto.
We had a family conference to decide what we all fancied to eat ... their was a unanimous "PASTA" ... which was just what I fancied after a long flight, we had Pancetta Macaroni which I watched my friend Dee make a few years ago and love, love love:
PANCETTA MACARONI - Serves 6
Ingredients
500g Macaroni pasta, 2 Medium onions, 2 Cloves of garlic, 2/3 sprigs of thyme or a teaspoon of dried thyme, 150g Diced Pancetta, 300g Grated Gruyere cheese, Olive oil, Salt and pepper
- Put the macaroni on to cook
- Placed the sliced onion in a frying pan on a medium heat and cook for a couple of minutes so the slices start to go soft
- Add the pancetta cook for a few minutes until the it is crispy and the onions are soft and started to caramelise, at this point grate in the garlic and add the thyme and cook for another minute
- Drain the pasta
- Pour the onion and bacon mixture over the pasta
- Add 1/3 of the cheese and a generous slug of olive oil
- Mix together and place half the pasta in an oven proof dish
- Sprinkle half of the remaining cheese on to the pasta, top with the rest of the pasta and sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top.
- When you are ready to serve turn the oven to 200 and cook for 20/25 minutes till it is cooked through and the top of the pasta has gone golden and crispy
Cooking notes
This makes quite a dry Macaroni, if you prefer lots of cheese sauce this might not be for you. If you like your pasta very crispy then you will love it.
The thyme leaves should be removed from the sprigs, you should have just over a tablespoon of leaves.
The Oven proof dish I use for this is 34 cm x 28 cm x 5cm deep.
Adapting
If you can not find Gruyere then use Emmental cheese instead
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