Pea Pasta With Grilled Bacon

This is an easy-peasy dish :)…I just couldn’t resist. Really, it is simple, quick, requires very few ingredients and it’s cheap! What more could you ask for? It also reheats well the next day for lunch. One of the key factors to this dish is to get a good quality Parmesan cheese (not the stuff in a plastic container), it needs to be the stuff sold in a big chunk (Trader Joe’s and Costco both can save you a few dollars on this ingredient). The bacon is technically optional though we have always included it. The bacon brings a great salty smokiness to the dish and grilling it just steps up the flavor that much more. The thick cut bacon is mainly needed if you are grilling it, otherwise you can get the regular bacon and just crumble it over the top. I highly, highly recommend grilling the bacon. I always make P do the grilled bacon for this dish…trust me, you should try grilled bacon, it will change your life 🙂 Sadly, I cannot claim the genius that is grilled bacon, I found the idea from The Smitten Kitchen. 

This recipe is adapted from Macaroni Peas found on Food52.

16 oz frozen petite (small) shelled peas
16 oz pasta, in a small shape (like macaroni, fusilli, orecchiette)
3 tbls butter
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 cup parmesan (good quality), grated
4-6 slices thick cut bacon
basil, chopped (optional)

Take bacon outside to grill, along with tongs. Grill on medium to maybe a little past medium heat…there will be some flames but keep the lid open. You need to stay with the grill this is not a leave it situation; the bacon cooks quickly. Grill until crispy. Set aside, and when cooled chop.

Start large pot of salted water to boil. In a separate saucepan put peas and add just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until tender — a couple of minutes. Reserve about ½ cup to 1 cup of the pea cooking water and then drain the peas. Place peas aside in large bowl or measuring cup.

Add the pasta to the pot of boiling water and cook according to the package. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small pan over low heat; add the garlic and cook gently for several minutes. Remove from heat.

When pasta is cooked al dente, drain, and leave in colander. Return pasta pot back to the stove (on an unused burner), put peas into pot (reserving about ¼ cup), add 6 tablespoons of reserved cooking water, the butter and garlic, and ¼ cup of the grated cheese. Using stick blender, puree until smooth, adding more cooking water if necessary. Combine with the remaining whole peas and season liberally with salt and pepper.

Return the pasta to the pot and toss with the sauce. Serve in individual bowls with more grated cheese, grilled bacon, basil, salt and fresh-cracked pepper.

The Rest of the Week:

• Grilled smoked dinosaur pork chops with grilled brussel sprouts: chops from Rose’s Meat Market and Sweet Shop (also purchased a to-die for meyer lemon tart for dessert)
• Shrimp Curry: not my favorite. The onion seemed to overpower the other flavors.
• Sloppy Joes with Rosemary Roasted Potatoes: used Coon Rock Farm ground beef and got our rolls from Yellow Dog Bakery.  This dish turned out great! We did omit the fennel seeds.
• Beer Bratwurst with Blue Cheese and Bacon Perogies: Brats by (Rose’s Meat Market), Perogies by Melina’s Pasta, and Juniper Kraut by Farmer’s Daughter 

Typing this out I’m pretty proud of us for being so local this week. The sides we just basically threw together ourselves but I did link to recipes as a reference. While, I usually don’t include where we eat out during the week, if you are local you need to go to Garland. This week was our second meal with them since they opened their dining room and both times have been amazing. I even got crazy and had a rum drink (I never drink rum), I was shocked at how good it was.