Give Pasta Salad A Deli-Worthy Protein Boost By Adding This Italian Cold Cut

A lot of pasta salads skew fairly Italian thanks to the inclusion of common ingredients from the cuisine, such as mozzarella, oregano, basil, and, you know, pasta, so it's pretty easy to mix and match even more goods to approximate the flavors of the Republic. Pesto is an excellent pasta salad addition for vibrant freshness, for example, as are plenty of the country's beloved meats for some savory substance. Pancetta is the perfect selection from that latter category, whether your favorite pasta salad skews Italian or not.

Pancetta is aged, salt-cured pork belly that's typically sold in marbled slices or cubes. It's rich and wonderfully fatty, with plenty of salinity; all qualities that pop amid more neutral pasta salad noodles. Pancetta shares some of these qualities with bacon, stopping short of the American breakfast staple's typical smokiness. Pancetta is also right at home tossed in with the spaghetti in a carbonara, with the bucatini in an amatriciana, or, as you've probably predicted by now, with the fusilli, farfalle, or girelle in your favorite pasta salad recipe. As easy as it is to just toss a bit in, a few little adjustments guarantee pancetta-enhanced pasta salad success.

A slice of pancetta sourced from the butcher store looks like a veritable kaleidoscope cell of ivory fat and rosy meat. It's delicious, but should you cut it down to even smaller size, you likely end up with some squares of fat alone, which don't mingle quite as well in pasta salad (there's too much soft texture amid the yielding noodles). Cooking these slices instead melts off some of that fat while also giving the pancetta a nice, crisp finish. A rough chop when it's cooled is excellent for stirring in or sprinkling over the top of your usual pasta salad components.

Pancetta cubes are also excellent for pasta salad, packing an even heartier bite than slices. Unlike cured slices, which can be eaten straight from the deli in many instances, cured cubes, while often safe to consume from the package — which you must still review to be certain — should be cooked for optimal culinary applications. A few turns in a frying pan gets them ready to stir and sprinkle in just a few minutes. Season your pasta salad to taste as always, but be a little more conservative with the salt to account for the pancetta. Extra leafy green herbs keeps the dish nice and bright, even with this decadent protein addition.