Description
The ultimate comfort food for those cold winter nights is this fabulous orecchiette pasta with leeks and bacon.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 lb. thick cut bacon, cooked & chopped (about 11-12 strips)
- 1 lb box of orecchiette pasta
- 2 teaspoons of salt for the pasta water
- 1 cup shaker parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup pasta water
- Parsley garnish, optional
- Fresh parmesan cheese, optional topping
For cooking the leeks:
- 1-2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 medium-to-large leeks, sliced rounds
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons finely diced garlic (4-5 medium-to-large cloves)
- 1/3 cup white wine, optional
Instructions
- Start by cooking the pound of thick cut bacon. Thick cut bacon has about 11-12 slices of bacon in the package. Transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel-lined paper plate and set aside to cool.
- If you are using fresh parsley as a garnish, chop that now. This is optional.
- Start heating a pot of water with two teaspoons of salt on high heat. The water needs to be salted because we are using the pasta water at the end when we assemble the dish. The water should be boiling by the time you start cooking the leeks.
- Slice and wash the leeks. We’re using the white and light green part of the leeks for this. Cut the tips at one end of the leek and cut where the light green ends at the other end. Slice the leeks into ¼” rounds. Transfer to a large bowl and cover with water. Rinse the leeks well – they can be very dirty. While you’re soaking – break apart the rings. Drain the water when finished.
- Chop the cooked bacon into small pieces. Not bacon bits – but small pieces.
- Finely dice the garlic. I usually slice the garlic into thin rounds then chop it down into finer bits from there.
- On medium heat, melt butter and olive oil in a pan, add the leeks and season with salt and pepper. Toss the leeks to coat. Stir every minute or so and if you need to reduce the heat a little you should.
- Add the pasta to the boiling water and stir. Follow the box instructions. Orecchiette takes 9-12 minutes to cook. I found it took a full 12 minutes.
- At the 10 minute mark of cooking the leeks, add the garlic and a splash of olive oil. Let the garlic get fragrant for a minute in the center of pan, then mix to combine with the leeks. Cook and stir another minute or so.
- Add the white wine to the pan (make sure you are on medium-to-high heat here). Let the wine reduce down completely. This should take about 2 minutes. Don’t let the garlic burn once the wine is reduced. Turn the heat off and the leeks should be soft and some will be golden brown too. My video shows all this very well.
- RESERVE the pasta water before you strain the pasta.
- Assemble the pasta: Transfer cooked pasta to a large mixing bowl then add the leek/garlic/wine mixture, a splash of olive oil, the chopped bacon, pasta water and shaker parmesan cheese. Mix everything together and make sure the leeks don’t clump together – break them up and distribute evenly. This is not a saucy pasta. If you want the pasta to be creamier add hot tap water and stir to your liking. You shouldn’t use more pasta water because that is salted and we don’t want to over-salt the dish. Hot tap water works great here.
- Serve immediately. Garnish with fresh parsley and fresh parmesan cheese – this is optional.
