Pasta con Carciofi e Pancetta

A very simple Italian-style pasta dish, which makes good leftovers for the next day. This dish is best served using fettuccine pasta, however I used fusilli, which were equally as good! 

Ingredients:
Makes 4 servings

• 300g artichoke hearts
• 40ml white wine
• 140g smoked pancetta
• 2 tbsp parsley, chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 50g shallots, chopped
• 1 packet saffron (0.125g)
• salt
• pepper

Directions:
Start by heating 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan, and add the shallots. If the artichoke hearts are quite big, cut into smaller pieces and add to the shallots. Add salt and pepper, and add the wine. Cover the pan and let cook for a some minutes. 

In the meantime, in another pan, brown the pancetta, and then add to the artichoke and shallot mixture, letting it cook further on medium heat. 

While cooking the pasta, remove a couple of ladles of the cooking water. These will be used for the sauce. It is important to drain the pasta before it is cooked, as it will continue cooking in the pan with the sauce. 

Melt the saffron in 3 tablespoons of the cooking water. Then add the pasta in the pan with the sauce. Slowly, add some of the cooking water in order to keep the sauce from drying up. Cook until the pasta is ready, preferably still al-dente. There is no need to add all of the reserved cooking water. Add the parsley, and after mixing throughly the pasta is ready to serve. 

Adapted from Original Recipe