Not every pasta dish has to be laced with sauce to be scrumptious. This rigatoni recipe is really simple with big flavours topped off by the gorgeously light crunch of breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs work really well with pasta, especially with a salty accompaniment like anchovies. Pecorino certainly does the trick too and works beautifully with my favourite vegetable, long stemmed brocolli. It’s so good for you and tastes great in Italian cooking.

Rigatoni with pancetta and brocollini - serves two

Ingredients

200g rigatoni

Five thin slices of pancetta 

One garlic clove

One red chilli

A nice bunch of brocollini 

One small handful of breadcrumbs

One small handful of pecorino cheese

Olive oil

Black pepper

Method

Boil a saucepan of salted water and add your rigatoni until al dente. While your pasta is bubbling away, roughly chop your pancetta and throw into a hot, dry pan, allowing the fat to render down. Now finely chop your chilli (removing the seeds) and garlic, add a dash of olive oil to the pan and add everything along with your broccolini. Fry until the stalks are just cooked through. 

Once your pasta is ready, drain and add to your frying pan. Add another drizzle of olive oil along with the pecorino and breadcrumbs. Continue to stir under the heat until the breadcrumbs are lightly toasted. Finish with a twist of black pepper.

Outcome

This is the perfect Italian example of fast and easy comfort food. Very little effort is required and you can use anything you like. If you’re not in the mood for sauce, breadcrumbs can be a really nice alternative and for me the salty taste of the pancetta and pecorino cheese alongside the fresh flavour of the brocollini is a heavenly match.

Read the original on: Jennie Eats Italy