Tonight's Dinner: Linguine w/Pancetta & Garlic Oil

Tonight I made one of my favorite dishes from Nigella Bites by Nigella Lawson. The Linguine with Pancetta and Garlic Oil.

It is so simple to make and it takes almost no time at all.

This is so delicious. Of course, there are some differences in American ingredients so I had to take that into account. She buys Pancetta in a block of it (a thick slab like bacon). I can only find it sliced thinly so I had to cut down the time of baking the pancetta. I did it until I smelled it and then I removed it. Perfect. It took about 6 minutes. She doesn't say in her directions how long it takes.

Here is my version:

                     *  Exported from  MasterCook  *

                 Linguine Fine with Pancetta & Garlic Oil

Recipe By     : adapted from Nigella Bites, Nigella Lawson
Serving Size  : 4    Preparation Time :0:00
Categories    : Main Dishes                      Pasta

  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
   2      tb            garlic-infused oil
     1/2  lb            pancetta
   1      lb            linguine fine -- (thin linguine)
                        parmesan cheese -- freshly grated

Put a large pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil. Add some salt.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle the garlic oil all over a small cookie sheet. Put the pancetta on top and bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes, or until you just begin to smell the pancetta. You do not want it to burn so watch it carefully.

Put the pasta in the pot and cook according to package directions (Barilla says 6 minutes). Drain. Chop up the pancetta and add it to the pasta along with all the juices and the garlic oil. Make sure to get every drop of the oil onto the pasta.

Serve, sprinkled with some grated parmesan.

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This is so simple and so good. You have to like the bacon-y salty taste of pancetta. You cannot substitute bacon. It has a completely different taste. Most supermarkets sell it these days. I had some from an Italian deli in the Bronx so I used that.