FOODIE FRIDAY - PASTA DI MAGGIO

Sometimes I like to create a dish out of what I have in and that's what I did this evening. Linguine are among my favourite pasta shapes; thicker than spaghetti, they "hold" a thick sauce or vegetables well and are less messy to eat if, like Chaucer's Prioress, you are intent "that no drope ne fille upon hire breast". [She is on my mind because earlier I explained the Prologue portrait to a student.] I have called the dish pasta di maggio or "May pasta":

For 4 people, cook about 400 gr linguine according to the instructions on the pack. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablesp olive oil in a wide frying pan. Add a pack of pancetta cubes [smoked pancetta will give a better flavour] and swirl around in the pan for a few minutes. Chuck in about a kilo of cherry tomatoes [wonderful Rosa brings me home-grown ones] with some chopped chives and basil leaves. Keep stirring until the tomatoes look as if they are about to burst [5 minutes or so]. Take the frying pan off the heat, drain the pasta when al dente and return it to its pan. Add the contents of a drained jar of mixed roasted or grilled peppers [cut into strips] to the tomatoes, stir it all and add to the pasta. [You could, of course, make your life difficult by grilling and peeling your own peppers beforehand but that's up to you.] Season with coarse seasalt - an Italian once told me that pasta requires coarse seasalt and he was right - and ground red pepper in the Sicilian way. Mix it all well together quickly, bung it in a serving dish, scatter over some more basil leaves and serve.