Linguine with artichokes, lemon and pancetta

 

Linguine with artichokes, lemon and pancetta

From “Milk Street Vegetables”by Christopher Kimball as published in the Star Tribune Sunday Supper recipe. Kimball uses the same blender veggie sauce technique with other vegetables in the book. You can find a recipe for broccoli sauce here.

Ingredients
1 pound long pasta such as linguine, fettucine or spaghetti
4 ounces chopped pancetta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 14-ounce can artichoke hearts, quartered
Zest and juice of 1 lemon, divided
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
½ cup chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, basil, chives or thyme

Directions
Cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain, retaining cooking water.

In a large heavy pot, brown pancetta. Remove from pan and set aside. Add olive oil and cook artichoke hearts until they pick up golden color. Remove half of artichoke hearts and set aside. Put remaining half of artichokes in a food processor or blender, add ½ cup retained cooking liquid, lemon juice and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper and puree.

Put pureed mixture back into pot. Toss with pasta, lemon zest, Parmesan cheese and herbs. Add enough cooking liquid to make desired sauce. Toss with pancetta. Serve topped with artichoke hearts and additional Parmesan cheese as garnish.

Rating: Very bright and fresh tasting of lemon and herbs. The sauce is fairly minimal compared to the pasta, but it still brings flavor to every bite. I suspect this is one of those recipes where you want to haul out the best pasta you've got, because the pasta itself is front and center. I used Rummo spaghetti No. 3 and thought it worked well.