At Campania, our menus change, a lot. During the summer, they change as many times as Todd from the farm calls to tell me that he’s finished on a certain vegetable. This time of year, swiss chard is full swing and I can’t currently think of a better way to eat it than with spaghetti, pancetta and eggs.

The idea for the dish came to me after I picked up a copy of Arthur Schwartz’s Naples at Table and saw a simple yet inspiring dish of spaghetti tossed with some fried eggs, pecorino and olive oil. As it was throughout the poorer regions of southern Italy, a dish like this was perfect - it was equally as delicious and filling as it was economical. And, as Schwartz put it, the farmers didn’t have to spare their chickens for a meal like this, just their eggs.

From there I thought that we could add a bit of cured pork, along with a bright seasonal flavor to cut through all of that richness. The dish was initially conceived with our own cured guanciale (pig’s cheeks), but our sous chef Dave (in quite typical fashion) fell off of his curing rotation and we didn’t have enough of it to carry us through this menu run. So we opted for pancetta, which was certainly the next best option. While a dish of pancetta, cheese and eggs would be perfectly suitable throughout the winter months, we felt it needed something clean and sharp to cut through the richness and to provide a lighter balance for the warmer weather. So here, we opted to toss in a quick little sautee of Todd’s swiss chard and picked it up a bit with some lemon zest, shallot and chili flake. A quick little test run with some of the staff and it was quickly unanimous - this dish should be on the menu. Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 lb. spaghetti

2 tablespoon olive oil

6 ounces pancetta, cut into 1/4 inch dice

1/2 shallot, sliced thin

2 cloves of garlic, smashed with the back of a knife

3-4 loosely packed cups swiss chard, rinsed well, chopped into 1-inch pieces (use mostly the leaves, with a few pieces of the white ribs for texture and bite)

zest of 1/4 lemon (use a microplane here if you have one)

pinch of chile flakes

approx. 1/3 cup pecorino

4 very fresh eggs

Method

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and add the spaghetti.

In the meantime, heat about a tablespoon of the olive oil in a large sautee pan until very hot. Add the pancetta and cook just until it begins to brown around the edges. Adjust the heat down to medium, add the shallot and garlic and cook just until the garlic begins to brown around the edges.

Add the lemon zest and chile flake and stir for about 5 seconds, then add the swiss chard, along with about 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water. Cook, tossing frequently, until the chard is tender.

Once the pasta is al dente, transfer it to the sautee pan, reserving a little more of the pasta cooking water on the side just in case. Toss well.

Now, heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a medium sautee pan (just large enough to hold the 4 eggs) over medium high heat until hot. Carefully crack the four eggs into the pan and cook until the whites are completely cooked and the yolk is just beginning to set. **The yolk should be custardy, yet not too loose and runny. Transfer the eggs to the pan and toss well, breaking up the eggs into little bits. Add a few drops of the pasta water to make a light sauce, if necessary.

Toss in the cheese and season with black pepper (and a bit of salt and/or more chile flake, if necessary).

Turn out into small bowls and pass the cheese.

**As always, play around with this dish according to your own taste. Try substituting the chard with asparagus, your favorite mushrooms or some wilted bitter greens (dandelion, beet greens, kale, arugula, etc).

If you attempt the dish, let me know what you think!