WEDNESDAY
Orecchiette Pasta with Bacon, Peas & Herbs
Each year, right around St. Patrick’s Day, my love affair with these lovely, little legumes is rekindled. Maybe it is the bright kelly-green color they flash…green is a color we are craving right now. Or maybe it is simply their tender, sweet crunch. Or better yet, they {a winter crop} are one of the first signs of Spring. Although it is a bit early for Spring peas, frozen early peas yield quite a flavorful dish. When prepared correctly {NOT a green-grey mushy mess}, they add a pop of color and nutrients {click here for an information download on peas}. I recently came across this slideshow at Bon Appetit.com: 10 Things to do with Frozen Peas, which is where I got the recipe for tonight’s meal {as well as the lovely White Wine Spiked Peas we enjoyed on St. Patrick’s Day}. Tonight’s dinner was so easy to pull together.
***And {YES!}, I managed to chop the onion & bacon ingredients without a trip to the ER!***
This dinner is basically a simple pasta salad with peas, herbs and a bit of bacon…
Orecchiette with Bacon, Peas and Herbs {adapted from Bon Appetit.com}
- 7 thick-cut slices of applewood-smoked bacon, diced
- ½ of a large yellow onion, chopped & diced
- 1½ cups frozen early, sweet peas
- 1 pound dried Orecchiette pasta
- freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- chopped leafy herbs ~ we used parsley & chives
- Cook diced, raw bacon in a {cast-iron} skillet over medium heat until just-browned. Remove bacon pieces with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.
- Add ¾ cup chopped yellow onion to the skillet {containing reserved bacon drippings} and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Then add the frozen peas and remove hot skillet from heat, stirring until peas are heated through, but still bright green in color. Set skillet aside.
- Cook Orecchiette pasta until al dente {according to package directions…approximately 10 minutes}, reserving a cupful of cooking water…just in case. Drain pasta and rinse, returning pasta to pot.
- Add the sautéed onions & peas {from the skillet} to the pasta pot as well as a few handfuls of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese & chopped leafy herbs.
- Add reserved pasta cooking water to loosen, as needed.
- Serve in individual bowls, topping with additional grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese & herbs, according to taste.
The original recipe calls for cooking the bacon and then “crumbling” it for the final dish. I prefer dicing the bacon first and then cooking the bacon pieces {in order to avoid over-cooked bacon}.
The final dinner plate…
Tonight’s dinner can be prepared in 30 minutes or less…which was just the dinner solution I needed this evening. Yet, we still enjoyed a comforting, pasta dish, with a Spring vegetable, on a cool, damp, dreary evening here in Northern California.
As we approach the big horse trip to Southern California next week, I am trying to plan a dinner menu for the boys, most of which I can cook ahead, while planning something special for Easter. You see, the girls and I will be driving home from So. Cal. on Easter Sunday…visit me on Instagram Easter weekend to see what we scrounge up for Easter dinner on the road with the horses {carrots will, likely, be involved}!
