"Hat" Pasta

Well, that's what Samantha calls it.  I call it amazing!  I made this pasta for the first time last week and fell in love.  So in love that I made it again this week.  It's so simple, yet so delicious!  Seriously, you have to try it.

Ingrdients (adapted from Everyday Food):

• 1 lb. any short pasta (I used orecchiette, which looks kind of like a hat . . . now you see where the name came from)
• 4oz diced pancetta (I get mine already diced from TJ's) or 4 slices of bacon, chopped
• 8oz broccolini, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 4-5 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 shallots, sliced
• 8oz mushrooms, sliced (I used shitake because that's what we got in our CSA box, usually I'd use cremini), optional
• 3oz sundried tomatoes, optional
• Salt & pepper

To make:

• Cook pasta according to package directions
• During the last 2 minutes of cooking, add broccolini
• Drain pasta, reserving 1 c. pasta water
• In the same pot, cook pancetta for 2-3 minutes, rendering fat
• Add garlic and shallot and saute for about 1 minute, until fragrant
• Season with salt and pepper
• Add mushrooms and cook until browned
• Add sundried tomatoes, pasta and broccolini to pot, tossing with enough reserved pasta water to make a thin coating of "sauce" on the pasta
• Season with salt and pepper if needed

Like I said, super easy!  The first time I made this, I used pancetta and did not add mushrooms or sundried tomatoes.  The second time, I used bacon and did add the mushrooms and sundried tomatoes (these were added on a whim, as I bought a pouch of them at TJ's for no particular reason other than because they were a new product and looked good.  Darn impulse buys!).  Honestly, while the bacon was good, I enjoyed it with the pancetta just a bit more.  I loved the addition of sundried tomatoes and mushrooms but it was good without them, too.  If you can't find broccolini (sometimes called baby broccoli enven though it's not really), I'm sure regular broccoli will work well.  The broccolini is just a bit sweeter and the stalks are more tender.  If you wanna get crazy, the original recipe calls for broccoli rabe instead of broccolini, but I'm not really a fan - it's a bit bitter for me.

For my vegetarians out there, 2 tbsp. of olive oil should be sufficient to replace the pancetta fat.

Seriously, try this.