Tuesday: Alfredo pasta with bacon, peas and red bell pepper

Alfredo pasta with bacon, peas and red bell pepper

I have good news and bad news.  The bad news is that I won't be making this recipe for dinner with homemade bread because have other last-minute dinner plans.  The good news is that we had the pasta for lunch.  The bread will have to wait for another day.

This is a quick, easy dish that is perfect for company.  Since it uses a butter and cream sauce it is not something that freezes well or or can be made ahead and re-heated.  The longer it sits, the sauce will go from being rich and creamy, to greasy and nasty.  It's also very rich, so a it doesn't take much to fill you up.

Let me warn you, that I am explaining this recipe in great detail and you could probably make the whole thing start to finish in about the same amount of time it takes to read it.  When I prepare these tutorials my goal is to show you all the little things I do that i believe makes my food special.  Anyone can read and follow a recipe, but a good cook adds his or her personal touches that bring it to life.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil on high with the lid on.  My pot has a pasta insert, but it's not necessary.  Also preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

While waiting for your water to come to a boil, let's dice some red bell pepper.  When choosing a pepper, I like the darker colored ones because they are a little sweeter.  I just want a hint of pepper, so I sliced off the top and am saving the rest of the pepper for another meal this week.  I cut the stem away from the flesh, then made julienne slices (think french fries).

I removed the core with the seeds and some of the membranes from the pepper then put it in a Ziplock bag back in the fridge to be used in stir fry later this week.  Next, chop the "french fries" into small little pieces.  You may do larger chunks if you prefer.  This ended up being about 1/4 cup of bell pepper.  Did you notice the plastic bag in the bowl?  I call this a garbage bowl.  I make mine be lining a large bowl with the produce sack my pepper came in (or a Walmart sack....anything that you can throw away).  This keeps me from walking to the trash all the time, and keeps my work area cleaner.  Plus, Rachel Ray does it, so it makes me feel cool.

Next, take 6 strips of pre-cooked bacon.  Life is too short to cook and clean up raw bacon all the time.  Stack them up then cut them about 1/4 inch thick.

 

In a large skillet, crisp up the bacon over medium-high heat until some of the fat starts to bubble and foam up like the picture above.

Add the bell pepper and cook for a couple minutes.

While the bacon and peppers are cooking, grate about 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese.  I don't have a picture of it, but as soon as your water starts boiling, add 8 ounces of your favorite pasta.  I used rigatoni.  Cook it according to the packages directions.  It should have a little bite to it because it will continue to absorb some sauce and cook a little more and we don't want mushy pasta.  That's just nasty.  Continue making your sauce while you wait for it to cook.

Remove bacon and peppers from the skillet and set them aside on a paper towel to drain.  Remove the skillet from the heat and add 4 tablespoons of butter, swirling it around to melt it.  Add it back to the stove on medium heat and add 1 cup of heavy cream, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder and a few grinds of fresh black pepper.

Add about 2/3rds of the cheese and stir until it begins to thicken.  About 2-3 minutes.  Add bacon and peppers back to sauce and stir until it is rich and smooth.  A little taste wouldn't hurt.  Add salt and pepper if necessary.

Thaw 1/2 - 1 cup of frozen peas by rinsing them with hot water.  Don't even think about using canned peas here.  Aha!  I caught you!  You thought about it!!!  Canned peas are not pretty and take this bright, pretty dish and make it look like your mom doctored up a box of Hamburger Helper.  So, dump in the peas and drained pasta (when it is finished).  Give it a stir.  You can serve it just like this topped with a little more cheese.  I made this dish quicker than I thought and found I had 15 minutes before Steve would be home to eat, so I came up with a solution to avoid that greasy mess I described earlier.

Pour pasta mixture into a casserole dish and top with the remaining cheese and bread crumbs.  Bake for 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starts to crisp up.  This dish feeds 2-4 people depending on how hungry you are.