Mediterranean Pasta

It's not easy to come up with appealing names when you create a dish. Recipe developers must have a hard time with that. This is a version of a dish that I have been making a lot recently. It's simple but extremely flavorful! I am calling this Mediterranean Pasta - Version 1...(it's actually version 2, I just never posted the first version) if you can come up with a better name for this, please let me know! Another version of this dish will be posted soon!


Mediterranean Pasta

Ingredients:

1 pound linguine
1 package diced pancetta
1 medium red onion, sliced
1 small yellow onion, sliced
1 roasted red pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
approx 1/2 cup kalamata olives, chopped
salt, pepper, sugar
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup chicken broth
extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp butter
romano cheese

Directions:

1.  Sweat onions in a combination of butter and oil over medium-low heat.  Season with salt and pepper and a sprinkling of sugar.  Let cook until caramelized. About 20 minutes. 

2.  Push onions to the side, raise the heat to medium and brown pancetta and garlic.  Once the pancetta takes on some color add the olives, peppers, let cook for a minute.  Add chicken broth and using a wooded spoon, remove the browned bits on the bottom of the pan.  There will be so much wonderful flavor from the pancetta. Reduce heat to low.

3.  Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Season generously with salt.  Cook linguine.  Once linguine is just short of al dente, fish out pasta with tongs and add to pan with caramelized onion mixture.  I like to do it like this when I'm making a light sauce because some pasta water will get into the pan with the linquine and create a nice sauce. 

4.  Toss well.  Sprinkle with romano cheese and serve.

Click here for a printable version of Mediterranean Pasta.