Comfort Pasta

I was really craving pasta tonight. I didn't sleep well last night and it was a gloomy morning, so I was in the mood for something sort of comforting. So, during lunch, I perused Giada DiLaurentis' pasta collection online and figured I could stop at Trader Joe's on my way to home to get anything I needed. I settled on her Orecchette with Toasted Breadcrumbs. It sounded simple and cost-effective.

I ended up stopping at the smallest Trader Joe's I know of and they didn't exactly have the array of ingredients exactly as I needed. I could only find plain breadcrumbs instead of the Italian-seasoned the recipe asked for. They had proscuitto, but seeing as I needed to clearly find some extra flavor somewhere and I find I usually regret using the cheapo kind, I bought some pancetta instead. If you don't know what that is, it's like bacon but not smoked. I also had to go with farfalle (bowties) instead of the little ears.

I cooked the pancetta until it was crispy and set it aside. I threw a bunch of salt, pepper, oregano (I knew I kept that for a reason!), and some red pepper flakes into the breadcrumbs. Tossed all together, it was pretty good. I don't know if it was the best thing I have ever made, but it did the job. The recipe was for the whole pound of pasta so I have some for lunch and um...then some. I do think that maybe I would like it a little better if I'd had really good proscuitto to put in it and the real breadcrumbs. Cooking is a trial by error process they say!

Orechiette with Toasted Breadcrumbs:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/orecchiette-with-toasted-breadcrumbs-recipe/index.html