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Penne with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Arugula

Ingredients

  • 1/4 pound thinly sliced pancetta finely chopped
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves chopped
  • 2/3 cup cream
  • 1/3 cup milk my addition, because the cream amount was not enough liquid see tips below
  • 1/2 cup drained oil packed sun dried tomatoes chopped
  • 8 cups fresh arugula or spinach
  • 1 pound Penne pasta*
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan plus additional shaved Parmesan for serving
  • 1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
  • salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Cook Pasta using package directions. Reserve cooking water to thin pasta sauce. Set aside.
  2. Cook pancetta in one tablespoon olive oil in a skillet (I like Teflon for this dish) over medium heat, stirring occasionally until brown and crisp. Transfer pancetta to paper towels and drain. Pour off all extra oil, wipe out any crumbs from meat remaining in pan. Over medium heat, cook onion in 2 tablespoons oil in pan until softened. Add garlic, salt and pepper cook for about 8 minutes total. Stir in cream, milk, sun dried tomatoes and cooked pancetta, simmer until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat, add arugula stir, just until wilted about 1 minute.
  3. Add pasta to sauce in skillet and toss together with grated Parmesan. Thin sauce with reserved cooking water if necessary . Stir in fresh basil, serve with shaved Parmesan on top.

Recipe Notes

-I thought 1 lb of pasta was too much past for the amount of sauce. A little of the dry side. Next time, I'll either just cook 3/4 lb of the pasta, or adjust the sauce to make a little more. Maybe up the overall liquid dairy products to 1 1/2 cups. I added 1/3 cup of milk, because I thought the 2/3 cup of cream was not enough. Even with the 1/3 cup of milk addition, and a little water from the pasta, it was not enough sauce for me...