Creamy Orecchiette with Bacon and Peas

This dish was inspired by the traditional Italian pasta dish Farfalle with Prosciutto and Peas, which has always been one of my favorites. I was consciously trying to use up items in the fridge, freezer and pantry, and was pleasantly surprised by the results. I love recipes that are adaptable to whatever ingredients you have on hand, but that still retain elements of the original that made it great in the first place. This dish is a perfect marriage of salty crisp bacon, chewy pasta, and delightful green peas that pop when you bite into them, all held together in a creamy sauce.

Creamy Orecchiette with Bacon and Peas
Serves 3

6 slices center cut bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 lb orecchiette
1 onion, diced
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 oz mascarpone
4 oz heavy cream
handful flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the bacon until crisp; transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.

2. Meanwhile, heat a large pot of water to a boil. Salt generously. Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water.

3. Return the skillet with bacon grease to medium heat. Cook the onions until soft and starting to caramelize, about 10 minutes. Stir in the peas; heat for 1 minute and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the mascarpone and heavy cream and heat until the mascarpone melts. Add the pasta. (I felt like the sauce was a little thick at this point, so I added a little of the pasta water.)

4. Remove from the heat and stir in the bacon and parsley. Taste for seasoning and serve.

Guinness Braised Beef with Roasted Broccoli and Potatoes

We had a brief window of winter weather in DC this past weekend - it was cold, windy, dry and generally inhospitable. I decided a hearty beef stew (of sorts) was in order.

I found this recipe for Guinness Braised Beef on Chow. You could certainly treat this like a stew, but as you can see, I made a massive amount of roasted broccoli and potatoes to go with it, so I wanted to put it all on the same plate. I followed the recipe as written and we generally liked the result. I couldn't taste the bacon at all and feel like it could easily be omitted. This does taste even better the next day and would recommend having some crusty bread on hand to sop up the yummy broth.

Bacon, Arugula and Tomato Pasta

Kind of like a BLT...

We had bought a package of baby arugula for another version of lentil soup I had planned to make last week, but the weather has been so mild here in DC that soup just doesn't sound appealing. There was also a partially used package of bacon lurking in the fridge and I thought, if I add a can of diced tomatoes to these two ingredients, we practically have a BLT! I threw a little bit of ricotta salata on top and a delicious pasta dish was born.

Bacon, Arugula and Tomato Pasta
Serves 4

Ingredients

3/4 lb fusilli (penne would also work well)
1/2 lb bacon, cut into half inch pieces
1 onion, diced
15 oz can diced tomatoes, not drained
2 tablespoons heavy cream (I was just trying to use this up, you could certainly omit it)
5 oz container baby arugula
4 oz ricotta salata or other cheese (cubed fresh mozzarella would be great)

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil; salt generously. Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water.

2. Meanwhile, cook the bacon over medium heat in a large skillet. When it is crisp, remove with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Add the onion to the bacon fat and cook until soft, 5-7 minutes.

3. Add the tomatoes with their juice to the onion; season with salt and pepper. Gently simmer for a couple minutes and then stir in the heavy cream. Reduce the heat to low.

4. Transfer the cooked pasta and the arugula to the skillet. Toss to combine and wilt the arugula. Add the ricotta salata and stir. If it is a little dry, add some of the pasta water. Taste for seasoning.

Baked Tortellini with Bacon

The good news is that Marshal Mike is back from Afghanistan and I can start planning dinners for the week and cook for more than one person! The bad news is that I chose this lackluster beige dish for the first meal.

I was going through my old December food magazines and found this recipe in Everyday Food's December 2010 issue. At first glance, it should be really good: bacon, cheese and pasta; how could that be bad? Well, it wasn't a total failure, but it wasn't something I would make again. We decided that it needed more bacon (the recipe calls for 4 slices), and a hit of parsley at the end for some freshness.

We can only go up from here!

Spaghetti with Bacon and Tomatoes

Bacon was on sale a couple weeks ago, so I bought a package with no real purpose in mind. (Let's be honest, do you really need a purpose when buying bacon?!) This weekend I decided it was about time I did something with it.

I found a great recipe for pasta with bacon and tomatoes from Lidia Bastianich on Epicurious. The recipe calls for bucatini or another long pasta with a hold in the middle, but I didn't feel like going out to find that kind of pasta, so I used spaghetti. I usually don't like long pastas but it definitely works with this sauce. I halved her recipe, as I never end up finishing all the leftovers, and it worked out just fine.

One thing I really love about Lidia Bastianich is the way she tells stories. This recipe is a great example: the headnote is historically interesting, helpful with ingredients and gives the reader just enough personal information to feel like Lidia is in your kitchen teaching you to cook. Even her recipe is written like a story and not just as steps, as most recipes. You can feel how much she loves sharing Italian culture and food with readers, and we get to reap the rewards!

Sauteed Greens with Whole Wheat Couscous

I am falling behind on my greens eating, and to be perfectly honest, I am pretty sick of them. I remembered liking the way the greens turned out when I made this Epicurious recipe, so thought I would start with that and then switch it up a little.

The last time I made them, I put them over pasta, but I didn't feel like getting out a separate pot to boil water this time around. I wanted a one pot meal, so I decided whole wheat couscous would be my grain and I could cook it right in the pot with the greens! I also threw on a little bacon for good measure. If you don't want bacon, I might suggest feta cheese for its salty bite.

Sauteed Greens with Whole Wheat Couscous
Adapted from Epicurious
Serves 3-4

Ingredients

Extra virgin olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced
8 cups chopped greens (I used collards and tatsoi)
2 cups low-sodium vegetable (or chicken) broth
Scant 3/4 cup uncooked whole wheat couscous
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
Couple slices cooked bacon, crumbled

1. Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the greens by the handful, stirring to coat with the olive oil. Continue with the remaining greens. Saute the greens for a couple minutes, or until just starting to wilt.

2. Add the broth and the couscous to the pot. Cover and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Cook until the greens are tender and the couscous is cooked, 5-10 minutes, depending on your greens.

3. Stir in the vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper. After plating, top with the bacon.

Braised Dandelion Greens with Bacon

I don't like bitter greens. I thought cooking them in bacon grease would make me like them. It didn't.

I sauteed the two spring onions and the green garlic in the bacon grease too. They were great until I added the dandelion greens. Then they became bitter too. The bacon tasted great though! Patton and I ate every last bit of it.

Bacon, Swiss Chard and Kale Pasta

I had a bunch of kale hanging out in the crisper drawer with the CSA swiss chard and found this recipe on Epicurious. Obviously I thought, "well, bacon's got to make kale and swiss chard taste delicious!" And it did. I have eaten its leftovers for three days. I never get that far! The balsamic vinegar added at the end really adds a depth of flavor to the sauce.

I followed the recipe as written, except I used half a pound of Giada's fusilli col buco pasta, about 2/3 pound of bacon, and I didn't have any Parmigiano-Reggiano on hand, so I used Pecorino Romano.

Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower and Bacon

So when I took my epic trip to Whole Foods to find farro, I also had to go up and down every aisle to see if there was anything else I couldn't live without, because making the trek to Whole Foods is a special occasion. (And I had a gift card from the VW dealership for getting Zeppy's oil changed last year, so I had to be sure I had enough groceries to use up the gift card, obvi.)

One of my finds was a bag of spinach, tomato and regular pasta shells from Whole Food's 365 brand. I have been dying to use them for something because they are so cute and colorful. I also wanted to use bacon from the package I opened for this dish earlier in the week. And what goes well with bacon (um, everything?) - cauliflower! Giant had giant (yes, my vocabulary is limited) cauliflower on sale this past weekend.

And thus, with only about five ingredients, a dinner was made.

Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower and Bacon
Serves 3

Ingredients

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
Extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
4-5 slices bacon, diced
1/2 pound dried pasta, any shape, but one that can "catch" the bacon is best
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Toss cauliflower with couple tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring once.

3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and liberally salt it. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving at least 2 cups of the cooking water, and set aside.

4. While the pasta is cooking, in a heavy, cast iron pan/pot/braiser, warm enough olive oil to lightly cover the bottom of the pan. Cook the bacon until crisp, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Remove the pan from heat and let cool slightly. Add 1/2 cup - 1 cup of the pasta water to the pan and deglaze, scraping up the browned bits with a wooden spoon.

5. When the cauliflower is done roasting (or a minute or two before), return the bacon pan to medium/medium high heat and add the cauliflower. Cook for another minute or two, add the drained pasta and combine. Add more pasta water if necessary. Remove from the heat and stir in some grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle the bacon on top.

Roasted Vegetables and Bacon over Brown Rice

I am obsessed with roasting vegetables. I don't know what I am going to do when we are really into the heat of the summer and turning on the oven is the last thing I want to do. Luckily, turning on the oven is still an option.

I ended up with this dish because I was craving rice, which is really an anomaly seeing as the only kind of rice I usually like is risotto. I used a long grain brown rice and the package said it would need 50 minutes to cook. Whoa, no. It was done in about 30 minutes. Check your rice!

I had picked up a package of bacon at the grocery because it was on sale (I can't resist a sale!), so I decided it would add a salty crunchy bite to the veggies and rice. And I am still trying to use up the block of ricotta salata that went into this, so that got crumbled up on top, too. Overall it was extremely satisfying and reheated well the next day.

Roasted Vegetables and Bacon over Brown Rice
Serves 2

Ingredients

3/4 cup uncooked brown rice
3 small/medium golden beets, peeled and cubed
2 broccoli crowns, cut into florets
1 15oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
4-5 slices bacon
Chunk of ricotta salata

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cook rice according to package instructions and set aside.

2. Toss vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes (or until tender), stirring once.

3. Line a second baking sheet with foil and lay the bacon on the foil. When there is about 10-12 minutes remaining for the vegetables, lower the oven heat to 400 and add the bacon baking sheet to the oven.

4. Drain the bacon on a paper towel-lined plate. Mix the rice and vegetables together, and crumble the bacon and ricotta salata on top.

Sweet Potato and Bacon Pasta

This is the sad story of a lonely sweet potato that took up residence on my counter for about 2 1/2 months:

Prior to Thanksgiving, the Ft. Myer Commissary had the largest sweet potatoes I have ever seen. As big as a football. So naturally, I had to buy a bunch of them. One actually went into a Thanksgiving dish (my mom's famous maple brown sugar sweet potato slop - yes, I know it needs a better name), one went into a roasted vegetable dish, and eventually there was one sad hold-out chilling on the counter.

Before I knew it, it was the end of January and the lonely sweet potato still sat there. It watched onions, garlic, bananas, apples, fennel a plenty, and others come and go. And still it sat. I poked it every now and then to see if it was getting soft, but it never gave in to my assaults.

The other night I decided I finally had to do something with it and the partial package of bacon that had been chilling in my fridge for almost as long as the sweet potato had been chilling on the counter. What else do you (ok, maybe not you, dear reader; perhaps you are more creative than me) do with random ingredients, but throw them into a pasta dish!

Unlike my last attempt at a sweet potato pasta dish (see here), this one was lacking substantial flavor, but the texture didn't bother me much. You can't really see it in the picture, but the sweet potato broke down a bit and clung to the shells. So the sad ending to the story is that the perseverant sweet potato ended up in a so-so pasta dish. The end.

Sweet Potato and Bacon Pasta
Serves 2-3

Extra virgin olive oil
2 shallots, diced
2/3 of a massive sweet potato, peeled and cut into small dice
Leaves from a couple sprigs of fresh thyme
4 slices bacon (the dish could have used more bacon, but I only had 4 slices left, so I would recommend using more. Unless you are a communist.)
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 box medium shells
1 cup chicken broth (I meant to grab the vegetable broth, but after I opened it, I realized it was chicken)
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1. Heat a little olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and sauté for a couple minutes. Add the sweet potato and thyme to the skillet; cook, stirring occasionally, for a couple minutes.

2. Meanwhile, cook the bacon according to your preferred method. Usually, I like to bake the bacon in the oven, but seeing as my oven takes 4 days to preheat, I decided to cook it in a sauté pan and make a huge bacon grease mess. When it is nice and crispy, let it drain on a paper towel-lined plate. When it has cooled, crumble into bite-sized pieces.

3. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until al dente and drain, reserving a cup of the cooking water.

4. Back to the sweet potatoes. After a couple minutes, you will notice the pan looks really dry; add about a half cup of broth. After that has been absorbed, add the remaining half cup. Try a sweet potato to make sure it is tender and season with salt and pepper as necessary.

5. Add the pasta to the sweet potato mixture, stir to combine and add lots of cheese. Add some of the reserved pasta water if it is too dry. Top with the crumbled bacon.

Comforting, Creamy, Throw-it-all-in Pasta

So I wasn't going to blog about this dish because it is not pretty (hence the lack of a picture), and it isn't anything special, but as I am eating the leftovers for lunch, thoroughly enjoying them and realizing that the flavors have actually gotten better after a night in the fridge, I just had to share.

This pasta is similar to my What's Left in the Fridge Frittata. I got home from work later than I would have liked, I was starving and craving something comforting, and the fridge was full of a bunch of random half-used items. The resulting dish was better than many things I have made from cookbooks! It could have used a green vegetable - I think broccoli would have worked - but all I had were peas and a hard as a rock block of edamame in the freezer and I didn't think they would work as well.

Throw It All In Pasta
Serves 2

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil (could omit if using a non-stick pan)
4 slices bacon, diced
3/4 red onion, sliced (digression: I love onions. I know there are some people who have very strong aversions to onions, but I don't know what I would do without them!)
1/2 of 15 oz can of Tomato Sauce with Italian herbs (I like Contadina)
Leaves from a couple sprigs of thyme
Leaves from a large sprig of oregano, chopped
4oz Mascarpone cheese (1/2 of an 8oz container)
About 1/3 of a box of pasta (I used cavatappi, because that was the only open box in the pantry)

1. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Add bacon and saute until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon to paper towel lined plate.
2. Lower heat to medium and add onions to bacon drippings. Saute until caramelized.
3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta until al dente.
4. When onions are cooked enough for your liking, add sauce, thyme and oregano. Lower heat to low or medium low. Stir until combined and sauce is heated through. Add mascarpone and stir until heated through.
5. Add drained pasta to sauce and toss to coat. Add bacon at the end.

Pasta with Parsnips and Bacon

Parsnips a plenty!

We had some bacon in the fridge that desperately needed to be used, so I decided to try this recipe from the Serious Eats website. It is a recipe adapted from an adapted recipe from Mario Batali's Babbo restaurant (did you get that?). And it was pretty good. Like the author/cook says on the Serious Eats site, what this dish boils down to is that parsnips taste good when cooked in pork fat. I wish I had reread his blurb before I made this dish, however, because I certainly would have used parsley instead of green onions. They did not work at all. Not the right flavor combinations.

Also, I only used 1 pound of parsnips and as you can tell from the above picture, it was plenty! I used the other half of the box of rotelle from this dish and would recommend using a short pasta, not fettuccine as the Epicurious recipe recommends.

Baked Pasta with Spinach, Bacon and Breadcrumbs

I was craving a baked pasta over the weekend and wanted to use up some random items in the fridge, so I came up with this dish. It was fairly tasty, but I would do a couple things differently if I made it again.

The first problem was that I added a box of frozen spinach to the sauce because I was trying to make it healthier, and unfortunately I don't think the spinach added any flavor to the final dish. Maybe it would have been better if I had had some ricotta to mix in with it. Or it needed some spice. Perhaps there is a reason most recipes add a little nutmeg to spinach!

The second problem was the crispy topping. I decided not to toast the panko prior to baking because I figured the oven would toast it. And it was crunchy, but it was bland bland bland. I was mighty disappointed. Next time I will toast the panko and parsley with olive oil and salt for just a little bit before sprinkling on top.

The recipe below is how I made it this weekend.

Baked Pasta with Spinach, Bacon and Breadcrumbs
Serves 5-6

Extra virgin olive oil
6 slices bacon, diced
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
35 oz can peeled whole San Marzano tomatoes with juice
Dried Italian seasoning
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 lb dried ziti or rigatoni
1 box frozen spinach, thawed and water wrung out
1/2 lb mozzarella, cubed
3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs (or whatever you have)
Handful fresh Italian parsley, chopped
Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly oil large baking/casserole dish.
2. Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until browned. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and generously salt once it is boiling.
3. You want about 2 tablespoons of "fat" in the skillet to cook the onion, so add olive oil to the bacon grease until you have enough. Cook onion for about 5 minutes or until soft. Add garlic and stir until fragrant (about 1 minute). Add can of tomatoes with their juice. Use your spoon to break up tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Bring mixture to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes or until thickened.
4. Meanwhile, cook pasta in boiling water until less than al dente. (It will continue to cook in the oven and you DO NOT want over cooked pasta!) Drain.
5. Stir thawed spinach into tomato sauce. Remove from the heat and stir in the mozzarella, then mix in the pasta. Transfer to the baking dish.
6. Sprinkle the bacon over the top of the pasta, then the panko and parsley. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Season with salt, then sprinkle the top with grated parmesan.
7. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes.

Penne with Heirloom Tomatoes, Bacon and Goat Cheese

 What? Pasta again?

I had purchased an impulse-buy container of mini heirloom tomatoes at Trader Joe's the other day (side note: I find that Trader Joe's is like Target - if you only pick up what you can carry in your own two hands, you will probably be ok. But the moment you pick up a basket, or god forbid a cart (!), you end up with way more items than you need and a receipt that prompts you to tally everything up yourself because there is no way it could come to that much money, so logically, the cash register must have counted incorrectly.) and needed to do something with them promptly lest they become expensive food for our garbage can.

I had wanted to try this recipe from Martha Rose Shulman for Penne with Heirloom Tomatoes, Basil, Green Beans and Feta for some time, but seeing as I didn't have Green Beans or Feta, I just used her guidelines for the tomato "marinade." Marshal Mike doesn't consider a meal a meal unless it has meat in it, so I sauteed up some bacon to throw in at the end. And I used goat cheese to make the dish creamy and cheesy. Overall, this pasta was satisfying and delicious!

Penne with Heirloom Tomatoes, Bacon and Goat Cheese
Serves 2, with leftovers

1 lb mini Heirloom tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 plump garlic clove, minced
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons slivered basil
6 slices bacon, chopped
1/2 lb penne or fusilli (you can see I used both)
1/2 cup herbed goat cheese

1. Combine the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, balsamic vinegar, basil, salt and pepper in a medium-sized bowl. Let sit for 30 minutes-1 hour.

2. Sauté bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until crispy. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.

3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain, reserving some of the pasta water.

4. Return pasta to the pot and toss with the goat cheese. Once most of the goat cheese has melted from the heat of the pasta, add the tomato mixture and the bacon. (There should be enough liquid in the tomato mixture to make a sauce, but if not, add a little pasta water.) Taste for seasoning and serve.

Fettuccine with Broccoli, Bacon and Lemon

Memo to self: Take pictures of the food you cook so as not to bore your readers to sleep. This photo courtesy of Epicurious.

Last night's dinner was a result of trying use up items in the fridge. I more or less followed the below Bon Appétit recipe and it was delicious! We will certainly make this again.

My notes: I only had regular bacon on hand, so I used that and crumbled it after it cooled and was crisp. I used less butter and olive oil than called for, and the excess was not missed. My lemon had already been stripped of its zest for an Easter Ricotta pie I made over the weekend, but we thought the juice imparted plenty of bright lemon flavor by itself.

Lemon Fettuccine with Broccoli and Pancetta "Croutons"
Bon Appétit | June 2008

by Rozanne Gold

4 servings
ingredients

4 ounces 1/4- to 1/3- inch-thick slices pancetta (Italian bacon) or thick-cut bacon slices, cut into 1/4- to 1/3-inch cubes
5 1/2 cups 1-inch broccoli florets (from 1 pound broccoli crowns)
9 ounces fresh or dried fettuccine
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

preparation

Sauté pancetta in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat until almost crisp and brown. Transfer to paper towels.

Cook broccoli in large pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender but still bright green, about 3 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer broccoli to medium bowl. Add pasta to same boiling water; cook until tender, stirring occasionally.

Drain pasta; return to same pot. Add next 5 ingredients. Toss over low heat to coat. Add pancetta, broccoli, and cheese; toss to blend. Season pasta with pepper.