My New Favorite Dish - Spaghetti with Roasted Tomatoes, Garlic, Pancetta
September 16, 2009 
This is my new favorite dish. It has to be, because I've made it every single week since I saw the recipe.
It's a luscious dish of pasta topped with tomatoes which are roasted with bread crumbs and stuffed with slivers of garlic. Fresh herbs and crispy bits of pancetta top it off. The flavors are perfect together. To eat the dish, you just crush your tomato on top of your pasta and it makes this incredible sauce.
This recipe comes from the new book, Canal House Cooking by Christopher Hirscheimer and Melissa Hamilton. Christopher Hirscheimer is one of the founding editors of Saveur Magazine and is one of the most outstanding food photographers. Melissa Hamilton was food editor of Saveur and is a recipe developer and food stylist, having done work at Martha Stewart Living and Cooks Illustrated. I love Hirscheimer's photography - she was the photographer for Lydia Bastiniach's book, "Lydia's Family Table" and one of my personal favorites, "A Platter of Figs" by David Tanis. I've loved her photography for a long time but did not know that she had written a book until I saw a post on Twitter from Colman Andrews about Canal House Cooking. I took a look at the book and had to have it. She and Melissa are going to publish three volumes of this cookbook (Summer, Fall and Holiday, Winter and Spring) and you can buy either one issue or subscribe to the whole set. But that's really not a choice, is it? Because once you see the Summer volume, you'll want them all. And I think it's so neat that they are publishing it themselves! So click on over there and subscribe. You can read all about the cooking studio they have set up.
One of the only things I took the liberty of adjusting in the recipe is the addition of the pancetta. In their recipe, Canal House adds the cooked pancetta before roasting the tomatoes. For me, the pancetta almost burned in the oven. So, after I fried up the pancetta, I set it aside and simply added it to the finished dish.
Spaghetti with Roasted Tomatoes, Garlic, Pancetta
for a printable recipe, click here
adapted from Canal House Cooking
serves 4 (or 2 very hungry people)
3 ounces diced pancetta (if you can't find pancetta, you may substitute bacon)
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for the pasta
2 anchovy fillets
1 cup coarse fresh bread crumbs*
4 tomatoes, tops sliced off, seeds scooped out
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
small handful fresh thyme, parsley or basil leaves, chopped
salt & pepper
8 ounces spaghetti
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Fry the pancetta in a skillet over medium heat until browned and crisp around the edges. Use a slotted spatula or spoon to lift the pancetta out of the skillet to a plate. Leave the rendered fat in the skillet. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the anchovies to the same skillet. Use a wooden spoon to mash the anchovies until they dissolve. Add the bread crumbs and cook, stirring often, until they are golden.
Put the tomatoes, cut side up, in a baking dish and slip some garlic into each tomato. Season the tomatoes with plenty of salt and pepper. Mound some bread crumbs onto each tomato, getting some inside the tomatoes. Scatter herbs on top. Drizzle 4 tablespoons of olive oil over all. Roast the tomatoes in the oven until they have browned a bit and the interior is supple but the tomatoes have not collapsed, about one hour.
Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water. Drain, but reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Return the pasta to the pot and remove the tomatoes from the baking dish and set aside. Stir the oily tomato juices and any bits of bread crumbs from the bottom of the tomato roasting dish into the pasta. Add a little olive oil and the reserved pasta water and toss.
Pour the pasta into a serving bowl, place the tomatoes on top, sprinkle the pancetta over all and serve.
* make your own fresh bread crumbs. Just tear bread, place in your food processor and grind.
See the long, oval spoon in the photograph above? That spoon is an olive spoon and it works great for digging olives out of their long, narrow jars. But what I discovered is that it is simply the best tool ever to dig out tomato seeds! It makes the job so much easier. I love that thing!
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Reader Comments (32)
As much as I love your plum tart I will love this dish.Thanks so much~ Beautiful. The book looks great too.
i think your food photography is great!
I can't wait to try this. However, what would you recommend to replace the anchovies? My husband doesn't like them.
Jacquelyn: Actually, your husband won't even know they are there. My husband won't eat an anchovie to save his life, but devours this dish. He has no idea the anchovies are in it. (Shhh!) The anchovies dissolve when you cook them in the beginning and they add a depth of flavor that's really nice. They provide what is called "umami" and if you want to read more about this flavor, read this post: http://tinyurl.com/oned23
However, if you absolutely want to leave them out, you certainly can!
I can see why it's your new favourite dish, it looks just wonderful. What an inspiring post.
thanks for the links to canal house cooking, I am off to look at it now...I too greatly admire Christopher Hirscheimer's photography, so I am intrigued.
I really ike the new layout by the way.
Holy Awesome!
I know what i'm gonna be making this week, for sure.
Such a beautiful blog. I'll make that dish. Love your pictures.
This looks unbelievable! I love roasted tomatoes. I have them rarely but when I do, I always wonder why I don't make them more often - so good!
This spag looks succulent! Thanks for sharing :)
Elaine, I can hardly describe in words how good this looks! But with one look, I instantly knew I would make it!
Wow. What a beautiful presentation thsi would make as well. Talk about a conversation starter.
Wow. What a beautiful presentation thsi would make as well. Talk about a conversation starter.
Wow, I just made this dish. My family AND picky guests loved it! Thanks to your simple pasta instructions, I also tried home made fetuchini for the first time. YUM! My husband says you're even better inspiration for me than Jamie Oliver...hee hee. Thanks so much!
From The Italian Dish:
Wow, thanks Kat. I love it when I get people to cook things that maybe normally they would not have!
I made it this weekend (with the anchovies), and you were right. You don't taste the anchovies. My husband and picky daughter really loved the dish - and I never told either of them about the anchovies.
I read the article on "umami" and may even start adding a few anchovies to my sauce.
This was a WONDERFUL dish.
From The Italian Dish:
Brava, Jacquelyn! I'm so pleased you tried it with the anchovies. It just gives it that extra something special!
I made this last night. It was so yummy! I may never go back to marinara!
meravigliosi spaghetti, questi sono i miei
http://coolchicstyleconfidential.blogspot.com/2009/06/spaghetti-integrali-pomodorini-e-erbe.html
un saluto dall'Italia
You're an artist. Thank you for showing us how :)
Mrs. McCardel,
My roommate and I made this the other night and it was delicious! We mixed it up a little bit by taking the insides of the tomatoes, adding a little chicken broth to it and cooking along side the stuffed tomatoes in the oven for some additional sauce. The dish was fantastic, thanks for the recipe!
From The Italian Dish:
Stefania: Grazie e ciao dal Michigan!
Erika: Brilliant idea! I feel bad about throwing out the insides of the tomatoes - there's so much flavor there. I will try your method next time!
OH. MY. GOSH! I have got to make this!
This looks so amazing that I am utterly freaking out! Will you marry me? Wait... forgot to look... male or female? Who cares?
Seriously, I think you and I could dine together very happily for years!
Although we might fight over who got the last anchovy in the salad, right?
Have a great night and thanks for posting this. I gotta get me an olive spoon!
Well, ok, I just proposed to a married woman. Nevermind.
But you do have those beautiful sons, huh? Gorgeous family!
(I think I got confused by the anchovies. Women will so rarely eat them. You must be Italian---thru and thru.)
have a great day!
From The Italian Dish:
Marti: Thanks for the marriage proposal! You are too funny. . . Martismarti. . .I like that.
Oh. My. Goodness. Simple to make and sounds very tasty. I'll be trying it soon!
this is delicious! As a college student living in a tiny on campus apartment with an even tinier kitchen, I'm always looking for easy recipes that still feel impressive. This certainly hit the spot!
I was looking for a roasted tomato soup recipe, read your's and can't wait to try it. However, will the flavour be changed dramatically by using vegetable stock intstead of chicken? My partner is vegetarian. Thanks, :)
From The Italian Dish:
Suzanne:
You can certainly use vegetable stock. I don't think the flavor will be as rich, but it will still be good!
What a beautiful dish to serve on any weeknight because it looks simple or as a pasta course for a more elegant dinner because it is simple gorgeous.
Your photography doesn't hurt either!
This looks so delicious! Gotta get my hands on that cookbook.
Elaine, wow! just had time to look again at your blog....you are amazingly talented on all levels!
Can't wait to get back to Michigan (Florida for the rest of the winter) and try some of your awesome recipes on Rog and Jody when they come to our house next time! I just love all your insightful hints and humor! Kris W.
Just found your blog through another blog (La Table De Nana?) and have fallen in LOVE. Have downloaded so many recipes this morning; this one, Spaghetti with Roasted Tomatoes is already on the menu docket for this week. Just signed up so I won't miss any of your postings. Thanks in advance for helping me cook delicious meals. Judy Beatty, Houston, Texas