Pancetta in pastas

The other week, I made the "Linguine with Slow-Cooked Zucchini, Basil, and Cream" from this NPR story. It turned out pretty well, although I think I didn't use a big enough pan to hold all the zucchini properly, so they didn't cook down quite right, so I'm not really sure that the texture of my dish was what the author intended. I didn't really see the "lovely, pulpy sauce", although it was still quite good.

It was the first time I'd tried pancetta. Usually I substitute bacon, because bacon is what I happen to have. But the pancetta was good enough that I decided to buy a couple more packages to keep in the freezer and use in, y'know, whatever I feel like. I don't know that I'd go around recommending it as a pantry staple as some fancy chefs seem to, though; I really like that conveniently pre-diced, perfectly-sized 4 oz. package, but it costs $4. That's a luxury item, not a staple. Rather like the bottles of red wine whose absence we diligently avoid, I think.

This is what I'm doing lately with pancetta:

1. Pull a 4 oz. box of diced pancetta from the freezer, open it and drop it in a cast-iron skillet with a tablespoon or two of butter. Fry till hot and possibly a little crispy, and then remove the pancetta.
2. Melt a stick of butter* in the same pan, and then throw in 4 onions, sliced up. (I cut them in half to split the rings into C's, and then slice it up into C-shaped fries. Saute the onions; the closer to caramelized the better, but sometimes you're hungry and you just can't wait that long. I tend to cook the onions on medium heat.
   
3. Meanwhile, start a pot of water boiling for pasta.
4. When the onions are cooked to your satisfaction, return the pancetta to the pan. Add 1.5 cups of frozen peas (OR: 1 bunch of asparagus, with the woody ends snapped off, and chopped into 1-inch-ish pieces, OR whatever equivalent green thing you crave). Turn the heat down to low once the green things are cooked, just to keep everything nice and hot.
   
5. When the water boils (which may be in the middle of cooking the onions still - you can wait on step 5 until your veggies are 10 minutes from finished), throw in roughly 1.5 cups dry rotini pasta (OR the equivalent amount of whatever your favorite pasta shape is; the Little Dude's just happens to be rotini). Cook it according to the package directions; mine was about 10 minutes.
6. Drain the pasta, and toss it with the onions/greens/pancetta/butter.
7. Sprinkle some grated Parmesan cheese** over the pasta - I think it was about half a cup, maybe up to a cup - and stir it all up.
8. OM NOM NOM.
   

I'm afraid I didn't take any pictures when I made this the first time; I was very hungry and we ate it up by the time it occurred to me I ought to. It was really, really good, and I want it again. The Little Dude agreed; he ate all his up and wanted more. I'll try to remember to take a picture next time.

Edited to add: come to think of it, the first time I made this, I also threw in a 6-inch sprig of rosemary from the herb garden with the onions as they cooked (snipped in half, and removed near the end of the onion cooking when it had gotten all wilty and used-up), and the juice of one clementine orange at the same time as the peas.

* I admit, this may be an excessive amount of butter. The Butter Police will not come after you if you choose to use less. I'm not sure how much is sufficient to just cook all the vegetables without adding a butter-sauce, though, since I've never tried it. Half a stick, maybe?
** Parm Police warning: real cheese, not the Kraft powder or its knockoffs. There's a part of me that cringes at the pomposity I hear in these words, but: it is seriously not the same. If all I had on hand was the bottle of Kraft, I would skip this step, or just use a little salt; the flavors I want to add just don't exist in the Kraft. I think they might be killed by whatever they do to allow it to be sold unrefrigerated.