Leek and Pancetta Pasta Bake

I have been eating A LOT of leeks lately, in soup, with vegetables, in garlic cream. They are just so versatile. Ever since I made this hugely popular leek carbonara, I’ve been meaning to create a new recipe for the blog. So welcome to my leek and pancetta pasta bake. It has all the same things, creamy pasta, garlicy crumb, soft leeks and a bonus of some salty pancetta.

You can obviously omit the pancetta if you want to make it veggie, maybe replacing it with some crispy onions. Either way would be delicious and I hope you all like it as much as the carbonara. I have baked it in little individual pie dishes (photographer) but you can just put it all in one tray and pop it in the oven.

Leek and Pancetta Pasta Bake

Serves: 3-4

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• 1 large leek

• 15g pancetta

• 5 garlic cloves

• 175ml single cream

• 280g pasta

• 75g (good) cheese

• Stale bread or breadcrumbs

• 1 tsp red pepper flakes or chilli flakes

• Salt & pepper

Directions

1. Add pasta to a boiling pan of water and cook until soft (around 15 mins)

2. Whilst pasta is on the hob, add your pancetta to a frying pan, no need to add any oil and let the fat render out until it’s crispy (about 8 mins).

3. Whilst that’s cooking, pre-heat your oven to 200c, chop your leeks, grate your garlic & cheese and set aside. Keep a little garlic back for the crumb. Save 25g of the 75g of your cheese for topping.

4. Remove pancetta from pan once crispy onto a side plate, add your leeks and garlic to that pan, sweat down for five mins and then add your cream. Season well with salt and pepper and leave to thicken for a few minutes.

5. Drain the pasta, add three quarters of your pancetta, the leek and cream mixture and 50g grated cheese, stir well.

6. Blitz chunks of stale bread with the little of your saved garlic and pancetta in a food processor, add the chilli flakes and a little pepper.

7. Add mixture to an oven proof dish, top with the 25g spare cheese, then top with the garlic breadcrumbs. Bake for ten mins until golden. Serve immediately.