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Pasta with bacon and cheese
Oct. 4th, 2011 08:30 pmThis recipe came about as the result of a kitchen catastrophe: the cheese sauce split. Twice.
Rather than risk the same thing happening a third time, I turned sauce into gratin as follows:
Ingredients
pasta (I used fusilli (twists) but shells would do just as well
grated cheese
English mustard - several teaspoons
Dijon mustard - about a teaspoonful
coarsely ground black pepper
small amount of milk
Cook the pasta as usual.
Slice the bacon 4 or 5 times across and once down the middle (so each rasher yields 8 or 10 dices) and fry until almost crispy.
Drain the pasta, dish up and stir the bacon through it.
Spoon the cheese mixture over the top and put under the grill until it's just browning.
Some of the cheese mix will drip through the pasta, ensuring the flavour reaches the bottom.
Serving suggestions
A sprig of fresh parsley on the top will add colour to an otherwise uninspiring-looking dish.
Rioja goes very well with this dish so there's no reason to suppose a cheaper Tempranillo wouldn't work just as well.
Variations
Try stirring chopped, skinned smoked mackerel through the pasta , substituting horseradish sauce for the English mustard and gooseberry jam for the Dijon.
For a vegetarian-friendly (and kosher?) alternative, simply leave out the bacon. You may find adding a little wholegrain mustard helps to add interest the flavour.
Rather than risk the same thing happening a third time, I turned sauce into gratin as follows:
Ingredients
pasta (I used fusilli (twists) but shells would do just as well
grated cheese
English mustard - several teaspoons
Dijon mustard - about a teaspoonful
coarsely ground black pepper
small amount of milk
Cook the pasta as usual.
Slice the bacon 4 or 5 times across and once down the middle (so each rasher yields 8 or 10 dices) and fry until almost crispy.
Drain the pasta, dish up and stir the bacon through it.
Spoon the cheese mixture over the top and put under the grill until it's just browning.
Some of the cheese mix will drip through the pasta, ensuring the flavour reaches the bottom.
Serving suggestions
A sprig of fresh parsley on the top will add colour to an otherwise uninspiring-looking dish.
Rioja goes very well with this dish so there's no reason to suppose a cheaper Tempranillo wouldn't work just as well.
Variations
Try stirring chopped, skinned smoked mackerel through the pasta , substituting horseradish sauce for the English mustard and gooseberry jam for the Dijon.
For a vegetarian-friendly (and kosher?) alternative, simply leave out the bacon. You may find adding a little wholegrain mustard helps to add interest the flavour.
