Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Pasta with fresh veggies & cream sauce


Last week, the Mister had to go to the Dayton School of Advertising Art and talk to some folks about how he uses Adobe to create some of his fabulous comic art. Naturally, I took the opportunity to make something he'd never dream of eating, then watch some x-rated movies.

This was one of my favorite dishes to make as a single gal, and I realized I hadn't eaten it since he moved in. I should note that I wouldn't know shit about making fancy pasta dishes if it weren't for my friend Billiam. I would have never attempted to make my own sauces before seeing him make it look so effortless.

Here's what you'll need (serves 1-2):

long, thin pasta of your choice, cooked al dente (I used whole wheat linguine)
3 sliced of bacon, chopped and cooked
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped coarsely
1/4 - 1/2 C chopped yellow onion
2 gloves garlic, minced
1 tomato (I used roma), diced
1/2 C white wine (I used pinot grigiot)
1/2 C half & half or heavy cream
parmesan cheese (at least 1/3 C)
olive oil

Start some olive oil in a sautee pan over medium heat.* Once it's fast in the pan, add your onions and garlic, but careful not to scorch the garlic (you will never know a more awful smell or taste). Cook those down until the onions begin to get soft & translucent, then add your tomatoes and a tablespoon or two of the white wine. Reduce the heat and let the tomatoes start to release their juices and cook down, then add the bacon & spinach. Simmer for 2-3 more minutes.

Once everything is looking beautiful and smelling groovy, start to add the rest of the wine and let it warm up with the veggies, then add a bit of grated parm and a few pinches of salt. Once it's all the same temp, start slowly stirring in your cream and bring the heat up to just below medium. Add the cream slowly so that you know when you've got enough. This will always cook a bit differently, so sometimes you don't need the whole 1/2 cup. The sauce should start to thicken, and once it does, adjust the heat back to low. Let is simmer for just a few more minutes, then add some more grated cheese and your cooked pasta, and toss it all together. Also, do yourself a favor and get a nice brick of aged parmesan instead of using that powdered shit that comes in the green canister. The stuff keeps forever!


*If you cooked your bacon in the same pan, it's perfectly okay to leave some of the droppings there. Just makes it taste better!

1 comments:

sarah stephens said...

That looks good! I'm going to have to try it out!

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