Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes, Swiss Chard and Pancetta
An easy weeknight pasta filled with earthy Swiss chard and married with summery sweet roasted tomatoes. A match made in heaven!
Recipe by Michele Becci on March 1, 2024
Rating
5 stars ( reviews)
Ingredients
About 4 cups cherry tomatoes (2 pints)
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
4 ounces pancetta, diced
Kosher salt
1 pound long dried pasta such as spaghetti, linguini, or bucatini
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 bunch of Swiss chard, stems and leaves separated
4 cloves garlic, diced
¼ cup dry white wine
Black pepper
Steps
Roast the tomatoes: Preheat the oven to 425° F. Place the tomatoes on a baking sheet. Drizzle with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with a large pinch of salt. Roast, shaking the pan occasionally until the tomatoes are brown in spots and beginning to collapse, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven. Set aside.
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p id=”instruction-step-2″>2. While the tomatoes are roasting, drizzle about 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet or cast-iron pan. (Bonus points if the pan is large enough to accommodate the pasta once cooked.) Add in the pancetta and cook over medium heat until brown and crispy, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the pancetta and place on a paper-towel lined plate. Set aside.
p id=”instruction-step-3″>3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over medium heat. Salt it once it boils. Add in the pasta. Stir and cook for a minute or two under the package cooking directions. (The pasta will finish cooking with the sauce.)
id=”instruction-step-4″>4. Meanwhile, dice the chard stems. Add the onion and chard stems to the skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour in the wine and cook, scraping up any browned bits, until the wine almost completely evaporates.
d=”instruction-step-5″>5. Add in the roasted tomatoes and any accumulated juices. Stir to combine. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper.
d=”instruction-step-6″>6. Cut the chard leaves into wide ribbons crosswise and add to the skillet. Cook until the chard leaves just begin to wilt, about 3 minutes.
=”instruction-step-7″>7. When the pasta is just shy of ‘al dente’, reserve 1 cup of the pasta water and drain. Add the pasta to the skillet, along with the reserved pasta water. Stir to combine. (If your saucepan is not large enough to accommodate the pasta, drain the pasta. Don’t forget to reserve the water. Add the pasta, sauce, and pasta water to the pasta pot.)
uction-step-8″>8. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for a few minutes until the pasta is ‘al dente’ and the sauce coats each strand.
Omit the pancetta. Sauté the onion and chard stems in a little extra olive oil.
Reviews
Ursula on 2024-07-30 (5 stars): Loved this recipe! I did not have cherry tomatoes but had lots of garden tomatoes that worked well. The roasting ups the tomato flavor and lowers the moisture content. Also threw in a handful of pine nuts with the garlic.
Andrea Mia on 2025-09-19 (5 stars): Wow - we have beautiful Ruby Chard growing in our garden (so proud of it here in the north of England!), tomatoes needing to be used up in the greenhouse… & a mad cat called Luna too so I totally had to try this recipe! Kept it veggie plus added pine nuts & basil. Purrfect ❤️ ⬛