Gramigna with Spinach, Chickpeas, and Bacon
This skillet pasta is the epitome of good everyday Italian cooking. It is fast—everything, including the dried gramigna pasta, cooks in less than 10 minutes. The ingredients are right out of the pantry and fridge. And when you put them all together—the textures and tastes are in perfect balance. When dishes are so simple, every ingredient is very important. Here the feel and texture of curly gramigna pasta plays an important role, so do try to find it (see Sources, page 340). Other pastas, such as elbows, shells, or small pennette, will be delicious, but gramigna is used in Maremma, and I love it.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 6
Ingredients
Recommended Equipment
Preparation
Step 1
Start heating 6 quarts of water with 1 tablespoon of salt in a large pot. (If it comes to a rolling boil while you are cooking the dressing, you can drop in the gramigna to cook at the same time or wait until you’ve added the spinach, as described below.)
Step 2
Pour 3 tablespoons olive oil into the skillet, and set over medium-high heat. Strew the garlic slices in the oil, and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring. Scatter the pancetta or bacon strips in the pan, stir, and cook for 3 minutes or so, to render their fat. (If the pork is very lean and releases little fat, add more olive oil to the skillet.) Sprinkle in the peperoncino.
Step 3
When the pancetta is sizzling, dump in the chickpeas. Stir and toss them for a minute or so, then scatter the spinach leaves on top. Turn and toss as the leaves wilt in the heat. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt; ladle about 1/2 cup of boiling pasta water into the pan, and simmer the beans and greens for a couple of minutes. If the gramigna are not already cooking, turn off the heat and cover the skillet to keep the dressing hot until the pasta is ready.
Step 4
Boil the gramigna until al dente, lift the pasta from the pot, drain briefly, and drop into the skillet of ceci and spinach, which should be simmering. Toss together for a minute or two, or longer if necessary, until the gramigna are amalgamated with the dressing. If the dish is dry, ladle in a bit of hot pasta water from the cooking pot. If there’s too much liquid, reduce by tossing rapidly over high heat.
Step 5
Take the skillet off the heat, toss the pecorino in, and drizzle a final flourish of olive oil over the gramigna. Serve right away.
