St. Patrick’s Day Pot of Gold Pasta: Orecchiette with Yellow Tomatoes and Bocconcini

St. Patrick’s Day Pot of Gold Pasta: Orecchiette with Yellow Tomatoes and Bocconcini

serves 2total time: 20 minutes

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Is anyone else out there a little freaked out by St. Patrick’s Day? I mean, I like celebrations as much as any other person, but this one seems a little weird. Green beer, leprechauns, and being able to pinch someone if they’re not wearing green? What’s even stranger is that it’s actually a religious celebration and all the things that I associate with St. Patrick’s Day have nothing to do with the holiday at all.

Even so, we’ll be celebrating in our own little way: my hair has a bit of green in it, Mike’ll pop open some Guinness (Guinnesses? Guinni?), and we’ll either be eating pot of gold pasta or some Irish stew! To be honest, this pasta almost didn’t happen. I was brainstorming recipes for St. Patrick’s Day, thinking that I’d make potatoes or another Irish stew – I really like stew, potatoes, and all brown food. I was feeling kind of uninspired when Mike came up with the awesome idea to use orecchiette to stand in as little gold “coins”.

Have you guys had orecchiette before? The first time I had it was in Paris, on my first trip abroad with Mike. Before we even landed, I let him know that I absolutely LOVED walking and wanted to walk around the entire city. I think Mike took my declaration a little too seriously because we walked for hours and hours before stopping to eat. I’m pretty much a constant snacker so this was not good. I broke down a little, freaked out a lot and got very very hangry.

Eventually I forcefully pulled him into a very cute little cafe that was stocked with a bunch of salads. One of them was a orecchiette, prosciutto and melon. I grabbed it and spent the next five minutes inhaling it without speaking. It took a good 15 minutes for me to become human again and by then I was super curious about the pasta shape – it was delightful! Ever since then, orecchiette has been one of my favorite pasta shapes.

This is the first time I’ve made orecchiette from scratch and actually, I didn’t really make it, I just shaped it. Mike was nice enough to knead the dough for me so I could do the fun part and shape them into little ears. They don’t take very long to cook and after a quick bath I tossed them in a golden tomato sauce. It doesn’t quite look like what I envisioned – I was hoping the “coins” would be more defined, but it was so, so delicious.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day friends! Hope it’s a lucky one :)

Orecchiette with Yellow Tomatoes and Bocconcini Recipe
prep time: 5 minutescook time: 15 miutestotal time: 20 minutes

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 8 ounces yellow tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 4 ounces dried orecchiette or fresh orecchiette, recipe below
• 8-12 baby bocconcini, sliced in half
• salt and pepper to taste
• fresh basil, to finish

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Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the tomatoes, garlic, red pepper flakes and cook, covered slightly. Swirl the pan often, until the tomatoes blister and start to burst, 10-12 minutes. Crush the tomatoes to release their juices and simmer, uncovered, to thicken slightly. Remove pan from heat and set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the package if using dried pasta. If cooking the fresh orecchiette listed below, cook for 2-3 minutes, or until all of the orecchiette float. Drain pasta.

Transfer the orecchiette to the skillet with tomatoes; set over medium heat. Cook, stirring until sauce is thick and coats the pasta about 1 minute. Stir in the bocconcini, taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve with basil and enjoy hot!