Food Recipes

Burst Tomato Pasta

  • 1/2 pound fusilli or curly pasta
  • 6 ounces bacon, preferably thick cut, diced
  • 6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
  • Pinch of red pepper flakes
  • 1 quart cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 3 cups basil leaves, torn
  1. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until 2 mins shy of al dente. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking water.
  2. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, add olive oil and heat. Add bacon and cook until it starts to render its fat, about 2 minutes. Add garlic, red pepper flakes and a large pinch of salt and pepper and cook until fragrant. Add tomatoes and cook until they burst, turn golden at the edges and shrivel up slightly, about 5 to 8 minutes.
  3. Add pasta to pan and toss with tomato-pancetta mixture; if the mixture looks dry add a little pasta cooking water a few tablespoons at a time. Cook over high heat until the pasta finishes cooking in the sauce. Add the butter and toss until it melts and coats everything. Add basil.
Tags: