Pasta Casarecce with Broccoli and Bacon

Written by Published on in Meat Dishes, Pasta dishes
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One of my favorite homey and comfort food dishes that I love is pasta with broccoli and bacon. In the cooking process, the bacon and the pasta are blended to form a delicious cream that brings together the whole pasta. If you want to take this dish to the next level, I suggest using pancetta or if you are really serious, guanciale.

For this dish, I used Garofalo Casarecce Short Pasta as it holds the broccoli sauce well. The true original recipe calls for using Orecchiette pasta however it was hard finding it any grocery store here in Idaho. So in true Italian fashion, we improvised with what we had which was casarecce. This dish is originally from the city of Bari in Italy where they use broccoli rabe and add a little kick of spice to it. In Naples, it is simply made with broccoli and pancetta.

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Pasta Casarecce with Broccoli and Bacon

A delicious and simple recipe made with broccoli and bacon that turns into a creamy and delicious sauce.
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Servings 6 people
Calories 476 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 head Broccoli
  • 4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 6 strips bacon
  • ½ whole onion
  • 1 ½ tbsp salt
  • 500 grams Garofalo Casarecce Pasta

Instructions
 

Ingredient Prep:

  • Cut the head of broccoli into 2 inch pieces to make for easy boiling.
  • Slice the bacon into thin 1 inch vertical strips.
  • Chop the whole onion into small pieces.

Cooking:

  • In a large pot of water, boil the broccoli for 10 minutes to soften the broccoli.
  • In a frying pan, add the olive oil, bacon, and onions and cook on a medium high heat.
  • Cook until the bacon reaches your preferred style of crunchiness and the onions have wilted and turned golden brown.
  • Take the broccoli out of the boiling water and add to the bacon and onions. Make sure to keep the water from the broccoli as we will still need it.
  • Add two ladle-fulls of the water from the broccoli to the bacon, onions and broccoli and continue cooking on a medium high heat until the water begins to thicken. Add ½ tbsp of salt.
  • Once the water has slightly thickened, remove the broccoli and bacon from the frying pan and place it in a blender and blend until a cream forms.
  • Add the cream back to the frying pan and add another ladle of water make a more liquid consistency.
  • In the same pot you used to boil the broccoli, add the pasta and boil for 11 minutes. Add 1 tbsp of salt.
  • Once the pasta is done, add it to the frying pan and cook with the sauce for another minute or so.
  • Once the pasta amalgamates with the sauce, it is ready to go. Buon Appetito!
Keyword bacon, broccoli, casarecce, Classic Italian, Easy Recipe, homecooked, Italian, italian recipes, Neapolitan

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