Pappardelle With Pancetta and Peas

Just cooked this for our lunch as written and it would have fed six! It's great and we had cheese and mandarines for dessert all with lots of Sancerre. I wouldn't change a thing.

A very yummy recipe, but why waste the pancetta fat and flavor? I browned the pancetta, took out the browned pieces. I then used the pancetta fat instead of the olive oil. Also no need to dirty an extra pan.

It tastes just great great cabin-style with bacon, frozen peas, sour cream instead of fresh ricotta, and some dried parsley reconstituted with warm olive oil. Pasta water covers a multitude of sins.

Made this a few times. So simple and Fresh, love it. I have varied the veggies depending on what is available and Fresh. I also have used bacon instead if pancetta too. It is is still one of my favorite Spring recipes. Oh if in a pinch you can use Frozen Peas, and Asparagus, but it does not taste as vibrant. Still it can be done if it is not Spring.

This article started out by touting simplicity and freshness. By the end of the article, the addition of so many ingredients, many that are hard to come by or takes time to locate - made this recipe seem heavily laden with add-ons: mustard greens? garlic scapes? pancetta? How about fresh noodles from Whole Foods, asparagus and peas with parmesan and lemon zest on top? If it's Spring, simple is best.

How to frustrate your readers: Green garlic shoots and mustard greens? Do you seriously think most people have access to these ingredients?

If you aren't eating meat, but need deep flavour, try mushrooms browned nicely...

I am a simple cook but love fresh food. The dish sounded good but then I look at all the ingredients and the complexity and got out off.

I very much agree with Nanda's suggestion. I had to add a little pasta water to loosen up the sauce to coat the pasta, stirring it around and bringing them to al dente. Served with a simple salad of fresh lettuces in a vinaigrette and some sourdough, this recipe could serve 6-8 people. Delicious and rich.

Made this last night, with a few changes. Sautéed the pancetta and used the drippings instead of olive oil. The amount of peas called for would have been too much so I broke it up with some asparagus and scallions. Also used ramps. Used arugula for the greens. There was not a bit left after the four people it served couldn’t stop eating it. Upon critique we all agreed it would be even better with a little more pancetta. A keeper!

Delicious and very adaptable. I cut the recipe in half, used arugula in place of the mustard greens. Used minced garlic, and since I was lazy, I didn't want to haul out the food processor so I finely diced the herbs, then added the oil. I diced the pancetta instead of cutting into strips, sauteed in pan, as another user suggested, then used the same pan with drippings for the next step. Saved time and work. I also used frozen peas, only a cup. I liked it!

It is a good idea to stir a less than al dente pasta in the skillet with a little bit of its cooking water added to fring it to al dente. there should be enough liquid in the serving for a scarpetta

I use fresh goat cheese instead of ricotta.

Arugula is indeed good cooked. I have a recipe for sauteed arugula with lemon and pine nuts over pasta that is very good. I usually sub walnuts for the pine nuts. You should roughly chop the greens or they can be a little clumpy. I think arugula or chard would work fine in today's NYT recipe.

Well it sounded wonderful but the - essentially boiled - pancetta was way too fatty and the peas were hard - way too many peas : It had potential but it wasn’t good