A very quick and easy dish of one of my favourite pastas that you can knock up in next no time.
This recipe provides a hearty meal for two adults, a lighter one for three. Yes, you all know how to add, so work out the portions for yourself and don't be intimidated: going with your instinct and preferences is more important than a calculator with this one.
Shopping list
350g paccheri — dried or fresh. I have made it from scratch using this recipe on occasion. It's good, but frankly balancing overall convenience with result, I recommend Waitrose fresh paccheri
Approx 200g broad beans — fresh, tinned or frozen (NB frozen are often the best quality)
150 - 200g diced smoked pancetta depending on preference
Half a medium-to-large butternut squash
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
Olive oil
Red chilli and tomato pesto (or any other red pesto if you don't like chilli) — again, you can make it yourself or use any decent store-bought pesto
Hard cheese such as grana padano or parmesan (optional)
“ The name paccheri is derived from the Neapolitan dialect. Meaning 'slaps' , it probably refers to the sound it makes when you eat it. But it also has comical connotations of 'uncouth' or 'coarse'', perhaps a derogatory comment about the gusto with which common Neapolitans eat the dish."
Yes, there is a reason I use paccheri for this dish. Sure, you can substitute other pastas (tagliatelle is another thick enough) but it is the slightly resistant, chewy quality even when fully cooked that gives it a particularly satisfying quality.
Cooking method
Cut the half of butternut squash you're using in half again. Place in a pot with plenty of water, lightly salted, and bring rapidly to the boil. Let it boil for a few minutes, cover and simmer for approx 15 mins or until the butternut is cooked (i.e. when you can push a fork into the flesh with ease). Give the butternut a head start so that it is ready while you cook the pasta.
An important tip about butternut squash: never cut butternut squash into cubes if you boil it. Always cook it in large pieces (e.g. quarters) in the skin (which can be eaten in most cases). This prevents the flesh from absorbing too much water and retains that wonderful butter-like texture
Heat a large pot of salted water for the pasta until it is boiling vigorously. Add the paccheri ensuring they do not stick together. Boil vigorously for about 12 mins or until they are ready. NB even if you prefer your pasta al dente, the thickness of paccheri means that they take longer to cook than many other pastas. (see here for more specific guidance on pasta cooking times)
Add a healthy dose of olive oil to a small frying pan on a high heat. Once it is heated, add the garlic, stirring until it starts to turn golden, add the smoked pancetta and stir it in ensuring the oil and garlic coats all of it. Cook it long enough for the excess fat to drain from the pancetta and to heat it until piping hot. But, do not overcook it until crisp etc. Turn off the heat and cover to keep it warm.
While the pasta is cooking, steam the broad beans. By far the best way to do this is using a microwave steamer (start cooking them sooner if using a traditional steamer).
For an extra flavour treat, cook them the day before and marinate in lemon juice, olive oil with chilli and a clove of garlic in a covered container in the fridge overnight. If you do, you need only drain them and reheat for a minute or two just before the pasta is cooked.
Drain the cooked butternut squash, cut into large cubes with or without the skin (and obviously removing the pips and sinews if you've used the bulbous end of the squash) according to personal preference. Return to the pot and cover to keep warm (having turned the heat off!)
Drain the cooked paccheri thoroughly and turn off the heat. Return them to the still hot pot and rapidly stir in the pesto with a quantity to personal preference. This is a fairly chunky pasta and generally needs more pesto than other pastas for optimum effect. Add the pancetta ensuring not to add the excess fat. Well, at least not more than a tablespoon of so if you're one of those who loves fat.
Add the warm butternut squash cubes and broad beans, gently stirring to ensure that they are evenly distributed.
Serve with gated grana padano or parmesan to flavour
Variations
Pescatarian — Smoked mussels or anchovies in olive oil of the tinned variety work particularly well with this dish. It also works very well with grilled fresh tuna cut into large cubes; less so with tinned tuna which becomes somewhat bland with the other flavours.
Vegetarian — The easiest and perfectly delicious option is simply to not add the pancetta and add more butternut squash. My favourite veggie iteration to date substituted the pancetta with walnut halves, roughly broken into fairly large pieces with a pestle and added uncooked when adding the broad beans and butternut. Mushrooms cut into fairly large slices cooked in exactly the same manner as the pancetta also work very well.
Sides
Not a dish that really needs accompaniments if you're going for larger portions —these slappers are very filling— but works well with any variation on classic (mainly) green salads if you want less pasta and more garden. One I thought worked particularly well was raw baby spinach, tomatoes and slices of raw red onion, probably because of the way that raw onion in sambals has a palate-cleansing counterpoint to the heat of chillies with curries.
Pairings
I shall have to get Karel on the case with some grown-up pairings for this one. I don't have any vehement recommendations as such, mostly because it's one of those really easy dishes that take no time that I knock up at the least minute and it's a matter of what's available on the wine front. But, I will say that it is fairly "colour-agnostic" and works well with reds, whites or even rosé wines.
One lazy summer evenings al fresco, it's been delicious with The Ned Waihopai River Sauvignon Blanc, my go-to white Delhaize Viré Clessé and inevitably Italian wines such as Villa Broglia Gavi di Gavi.
On the vaguely remembered rosé front, I recollect it working particularly well with Kleine Rust Rosé (Pinotage) and, no, don't ask me from which year.
Though I think of this as a summer dish, I make it reasonably often in the winter. God knows the carb-fest of paccheri is suitably filling in chilly weather. Then, it has worked very well with Castello del Trebbio 'Lastricato' Riserva Chianti Rufina DOCG (only because I chose to open a remaining bottle of the wine I brought back from a trip to the castello than venture out into the cold for something more quotidian) as well as will a range of reds that I don't remember. Please let me know if you find something you think does the trick.
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