Giangi's Kitchen

• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook
• Pin It on Pin Interest

Penne pasta, peas, and bacon.Skip To The Recipe

When talking about comfort food, pasta dishes are way up there in the list of food that not only is easy to prepare, but everyone enjoys and craves it.

This quick, easy pasta dish takes as long as it takes to cook the pasta itself. It is a savory combination of sweet green peas with crisp onions and bacon.

The heavy cream binds it all together blending the flavors well. A great savory dish that is perfect any night of the week, or a gathering with friends.

Last-minute dinner? This pasta recipe is your dish and soon will be your go-to dish as well.

TIPS:

• Have all the ingredients ready prior to cooking. This dish will be prepared rather quickly and you do not want to around the kitchen.
• Use a large skillet to cook the onions and the bacon so when you will pour the pasta over it, you will have more room to coat the pasta without having to fight with it.
• You may want to reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water if you want to have them creamier and do not want to add more heavy cream.
• Use the bacon grease as it will give the best flavor to the onions when cooking together.
• I prefer to use white onions as they give out a rich flavor.
• Add the frozen peas to the cooking water halfway thru the cooking process of the penne.
• I used penne, however, conchiglie or orecchiette will do also. You need a tubular or a cup type of pasta so the sauce gets into the crevices and you get to enjoy it more.
• Parmigiano or pecorino cheese will do wonders, I just happen to choose not to use some. Please add as much as you like.
• If adding cheese add it when the cooked penne is poured over the heavy cream, peas, bacon mixture.
• Grind a couple of rounds of pepper over the whole dish for a deeper flavor

Substitutions and some extra notes

For heavy cream substitutes, mix some cream cheese with whole milk. The heavy cream acts as a binding agent with the richness of, if I may say, mac and cheese. Thus you need some robust substitute.

Parmigiano Reggiano is my favorite cheese with any Italian dish. But the French side of me which adores cheese likes to play havoc thus adding pecorino, ricotta Salata to this dish.

Feta cheese can also be a good substitution to the ricotta Salata, however, you cannot greater it but need to shave it into small pieces.

When using ricotta Salata, Salata in Italian means salted, do not overseason your dish until the last minute.

What is ricotta salata?

Fresh milk flavored with a hint of salt and aged thirty days.

Use sausage meat removed from the casing to replace the bacon.

If you want to add some garlic, go light with them. Too much garlic will change the flavor of

Meatless dinner?

Omit the bacon. Use olive oil and or butter to sautee the onions.

Add some sliced mushrooms. Rich and the perfect combination with the bacon and heavy cream.

Fresh peas? Yes!! Cook them a little bit longer and make sure they are tender.

As the Italian says: ” Pasta does not wait for you, you wait for it” have your whole family ready to enjoy this wonderful savory dish piping hot off the stove.

Love this dish?

Why not try the following recipes:

Mascarpone Tortellini
Macaroni and Cheese Stove top
Cacio e Pepe Bucatini

Equipment used to make this dish

Please read my privacy policy for more info. I only recommend the products that I actually love and use. This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.