Pasta With Roasted Garlic, Pancetta and Arugula
Updated June 6, 2024
- Total Time
- 2 hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 6fat bulbs green garlic or 4 heads regular garlic
- 3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, more for drizzling
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1pound penne rigate
- ½pound pancetta, chopped
- 1large pinch crushed red pepper flakes
- 1teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, or to taste
- 2large bunches arugula, roughly chopped (about 5 cups)
- Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
858 calories; 34 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 17 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 111 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 28 grams protein; 660 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Trim hairy root and green stem from green garlic, or trim ¼-inch off top of regular garlic, making sure to expose all cloves.
- Step 2
Place garlic in a small, shallow baking dish, root side down, and drizzle each with a little olive oil. Cover dish with foil. Roast until cloves or bulbs are golden brown, about 40 minutes to 1 hour (green garlic will cook faster than regular garlic). If bottom of dish starts to burn before garlic is roasted, add one tablespoon water. Transfer to a rack to cool. Garlic can be roasted up to one day ahead; wrap well and store in refrigerator.
- Step 3
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions until al dente.
- Step 4
While pasta cooks, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add pancetta and red pepper flakes. Sauté until pancetta is golden and crisp around edges, about 5 minutes.
- Step 5
Peel outside layer of green garlic, or if using regular garlic, squeeze cloves from their papery skins. Chop roasted garlic, and add to skillet with lemon juice and a large pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté for 2 minutes.
- Step 6
Drain pasta, reserving ½ cup cooking water. Add drained pasta and arugula to skillet, place over low heat, and toss until arugula wilts. Add just enough cooking water to scrape up brown bits in pan (do this 1 tablespoon at a time). Taste and adjust seasoning, then serve with Parmesan.
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Cooking Notes
DNcgo
Omitted the pancetta in favor of simply adding a few slices of roasted prosciutto (15 mins. in the oven with the garlic). Flavor profile remains intact yet fat content significantly decreased.
mitchell
This is a winner. Best to use mature arugula as the baby greens lack the bite that makes this dish pop. I see no way to chop roasted garlic, so I smeared it on my cutting board with the flat of my knife, scraped it into the skillet and added some of the cooking liquid to melt and distribute the garlic and also added a handful of coarsely chopped dry-packed, sun-dried tomatoes before the pasta and arugula, then folded in some Romano before serving Parmesan on the side.
belinda
A success, I think, even though I probably overcooked the pancetta. It's very fiddly getting all those cloves out of the head of garlic, so leave yourself some time. Also do not underestimate the size of skillet you will need for this. Once you add the arugula and pasta, it's getting very cozy in there. At first I thought I'd never be able to scrape up the thick layer on my pan, but with two or three spoonfuls of the pasta water it worked like a charm.
Heather
Great, simple, recipe. In a pandemic, one large head of garlic, or two small ones will do, as well as half a package of drugstore bacon. I like it with linguine and extra lemon over the top.
abby
Are you cooks using 4 WHOLE HEADS of regular garlic, or 4 CLOVES? Four entire heads = approx. 60 cloves, right?
Omaha Cook
Cooked as written (but reduced everything equally for less people). Absolutely delicious. Only change was not adding olive oil to cook the pancetta, more than enough fat rendered from the pancetta for the dish. Also didn't add salt, but salted the pasta water and then the pancetta plus parmesan at the end probably added enough salt, at least for me. Yeah Melissa!
Victoria
I ballpark halved this recipe.Made a few adjustments based on the recipe & reviews. I peeled one head garlic into a ramekin, covered with evoo & baked in for 30 minutes. I used one five ounce box of baby arugula for about 10 oz of pasta andI would have been happy using half a box more. We loved the end result and I would make it again.Main edits to recipe: less garlic by around half ( I used 8 large cloves) no salt at garlic addition stage, more red pepper flakes (1/4-1/2 tsp), more arugula.
Jake
Overall pretty good, but we found the pancetta flavor overpowered the garlic a bit, might omit that in the future.
andy
Nice, simple, and delicious. Was in a bit of a pinch for time to roast a whole head of garlic, so I broke out 4 cloves, added 2 tablespoons of olive oil and roasted in a Pyrex dish in my convection at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Believe the desired effect was achieved without all the mess from a full head. Wife was a big fan, though we were a little light on the amount of arugula in the fridge. Definitely adding to the rotation for dinner.
B. Curtis
I substituted country ham for the pancetta, added a half preserved lemon plus a tablespoon or so of capers. No salt in the pasta water or salt added since the country ham, preserved lemon, and capers have plenty.
Jim
This is the rare recipe that actually takes less time than advertised. If the garlic takes 1h to roast, and you start cooking the pasta when the garlic has 15 minutes left to go, you could be eating in about an hour. I wasn't so efficient, but it certainly didn't take me two hours.
Paula Blanchard
Outstanding. Melissa Clark does it again. Instead of pancetta, I sautéed 5 oz chopped prosciutto in a tbls of EVOO. Use large leaf arugula if you can find it, bigger flavor than baby arugula. A keeper.
Sean Harding
Tasty, lots of bold flavors.
TenderPalate1
This recipe read well. But, in execution, doesn't work. The garlic – four heads, 10 to 12 cloves each, meaning 40 or more cloves of garlic – is beyond overkill. Maybe alluring to a garlic lover, but this is obscene to the point of unpleasant, a weapon of mass garlic destruction. Gloppy and repulsive, excessive use of good ingredients. Not a scintilla of subtlety. We found this offensive. A veritable disaster.
Heather
Great, simple, recipe. In a pandemic, one large head of garlic, or two small ones will do, as well as half a package of drugstore bacon. I like it with linguine and extra lemon over the top.
yumyum
Added sage and spinach and came out v good...
Nick
Squisito! I kept the rocket the same but added some coarse chopped Kale with the pancetta, garlic and chilli. I didn’t roast the garlic either I just sautéd with the pancetta just because I forgot.
mk
Used shrimp
cersei8
I used half the amount of pancetta and it turned out great! To imagine having used the full amount (0.5 lb) of pancetta would have made the dish WAY too salty I think.
David Bonfiglio
I suppose you could use bacon, and chard, or kale, and sauté the garlic, and that would be good... but wouldn't be this. And THIS is fantastic!
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