Orecchiette with Roast Tomatoes

I have been planning on doing a blog shoot with my friend Allison for a while now, since months before school ended.  She has a background in baking, and a love of food, and food blogs as well, so it was bound to be really fun. I really wanted to do something that was a bit more savory, or was more of a finished dish, so after a few weeks of looking we decided to do a pasta or lasagna.  I also been wanting to do a few more things out of the What Katie Ate cookbook, so we made the Orecchiette with roasted tomatoes, English peas, pancetta and a pecorino cream sauce.

I loaded up all my (5 bags) of props and brought them over to her place where, unlike my apartment, she has a great kitchen to cook in.  It was great to have an extra hand, and someone maybe a little more experienced with cooking processes, than myself. :)  I love to cook but by no means have any professional training in the area.

I just want to say, not only was it easy as a recipe, and beautiful looking, with a vegetarian option (we served the pancetta just on mine), but it was also amazing tasting.  Both Allison and I started saying, "Well it looks really pretty, I wonder how it tastes..."  Both our eyes lit up as we tasted the first bite.  Seriously, make this to impress your friends.  Looking forward to another cooking adventure with Allison, next time I hope to do a dessert. 

In other news, I'm happy to report I recently shot the cover of Sip northwest, which comes out I'm Friday! It was really fun, it featured a beer mug made from glass, and we shot it at the pool at the Four Seasons downtown Seattle.  I am very excited about this, and other projects coming up in the works.

Enjoy! 

 

Recipe

Serves 6-8
250g small vine-ripened tomatoes
Olive oil, for cooking
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Handful basil leaves, half roughly torn
Handful oregano leaves, roughly chopped
240g frozen baby peas
600g orecchiette pasta
350g speck or pancetta, cut into small chunks
750ml cream
200g pecorino, grated
100g pine nuts, roasted (optional)
Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Crusty bread, to serve 


Directions
Preheat your oven to 400.

In a shallow baking pan, toss the tomatoes, some olive oil, salt, pepper and a handful of torn basil and oregano leaves. Roast for about 15 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the peas for 3-4 minutes. Drain.

In a pot of boiling water, cook your pasta until al dente. Drain and then return to the pan and add in some olive oil and cover to keep warm.

While your pasta is cooking, heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Cook the pancetta until crispy.  Pour in the cream and stir to coat. Add the Pecorino Cheese, a little bit of salt and a bunch of freshly ground black pepper. (Be careful to not over salt) Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 10-12 minutes until the sauce is reduced a bit. Now add the Orrechiette and Peas to the sauce.

Transfer the pasta to your serving dish. Add your roasted tomatoes on top, and some more of the torn basil and oregano and a little more Pecorino grated, feel free to top off with some toasted pine nuts if you choose. Serve with some  crusty bread.