Thursday, February 3, 2011

Pasta and Tomato Sauce with Bacon and Parsley

Looking for a tasty way to sauce up some of our favorite Wegman's pasta, I ran across this recipe.
This pasta is the real thing, imported from Italy. It's our favorite.
Nothing like a little bacon to make everything so very tasty!
The recipe is from cooksillustrated.com.
I'm sure this would be great on any pasta you can find, although I like the shape of these (sort of corkscrews) to grab hold of the bits of tomato and bacon.
PASTA AND TOMATO SAUCE WITH BACON AND PARSLEY
1 (28-oz) can diced or whole tomatoes packed in juice,
or one quart bottle home-canned tomatoes
4 oz bacon, cut into 1/2" pieces
2 medium cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (trust me, the little bit of heat is subtle but great)
2 T chopped fresh parsley leaves (I used flat-leaf)
1/4 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 pound pasta (an awkward amount, but more dilutes the sauce)

1. Drain and reserve liquid from tomatoes. If using whole or home-canned tomatoes, dice tomatoes by hand or pulse gently 3 times in food processor to roughly chop. If necessary add reserved liquid to tomatoes to total 2 cups (my chopped canned tomatoes made 3 cups without liquid). Discard remaining liquid.
2. In 10" skillet, fry bacon over medium-high heat until crisp and brown. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate, pour off all but 2 T bacon fat from pan.
3. Process garlic through press or dice, into small bowl. Stir in 1 tsp water. Heat garlic/water and red pepper flakes in bacon fat over medium heat about 2 minutes (garlic should not brown). Stir in tomatoes and simmer until thickened slightly, about 10 minutes. Stir in parsley, bacon, sugar, and 1/2 tsp salt.
4. Meanwhile, cook pasta until al dente in large pot of boiling, salted water. Reserve 1/4 cup of cooking water, drain ipasta, and transfer it back to cooking pot. Mix in reserved cooking water, sauce, and remaining 1 tsp salt. Cook together over medium heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly, and serve immediately.

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