Originally posted by Jess – October 20, 2015
Hi everyone, Jess here.
Yesterday was a glorious Meatless Monday in the Anderson household, I’ll share more about it in tomorrow’s post. Today I’m coming off of Meatless Monday hard. Yes, I thawed a pound of Springdell bacon and have been going to town.
I feel like this may not be much of a recipe, it’s a pretty standard Parmesan pasta sauce and if you slap Springdell bacon on/in pretty much anything and you have a winner. However, it’s what’s for dinner tonight so I’m going with it.
I started with some simple bow tie pasta, or farfalle, which the boys picked out at the market. As I cooked the pasta (one serving for each of us), I also cooked up a few slices of bacon (one slice for each of us, plus a couple extra, because bacon) in a pan until it was just crispy. I set aside the bacon but left the rendered fat in the pan (I know, I know, but bacon!) and began to cook my share box bunch of cleaned and chopped leeks in the fat, for a few minutes until just tender. 
Next I mixed in some heavy cream, and reduced it with a little bubbly simmer/stir for a few minutes until thickened a bit. Meanwhile my pasta was finishing up and so I drained it and tossed it in the pan with the leeks, reserving a little bowl of the pasta water on the side. I gently sprinkled some freshly grated Parmesan on the pasta and kept the melted parmesan from clumping together with the help of some of the reserved pasta water, about 1/2 a cup’s worth in this scenario. After stirring and incorporating things I removed the pan from the heat and served it all hot with more Parmesan and bacon on the side.
I thought this dish would be a slam dunk with the kids. Bacon and bowtie pasta are on the top of the list of my boys’ favorite food items. In reality, my boys picked out all the leeks from the dish. I’ve never had success getting them to eat leeks, apparently even when they are intermingled with their two favorite food items. That’s ok, more bacon-slathered leeks for us grown-ups to enjoy, we loved it!
Like many of these dishes, it could have contained shredded or chopped kale, cabbage, mushrooms, you name it. I just love flexible recipes, and hope you like this one, too!
- 1 bunch leeks, cleaned and tender (white/lighter green) parts cut into 1 inch semi-circles
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 6 slices of bacon (4 for the dish 2 on the side)
- 3 cups of dry farfalle
- 4 tbsp Parmesan Cheese, more as needed for garnish
- other veggies as desired
- Cook the pasta according to package directions while simultaneously cooking the slices of bacon until just crispy.
- Set aside the bacon leaving the rendered fat in the pan (drain some fat if desired). Heat the pan over medium heat and sauté the leeks (and other desired veggies) until tender but not browned, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add heavy cream to the leeks and bring to a gentle bubble, reducing the heat if bubbling too hard. Reduce the cream until thickened, about 5 minutes.
- When done, drain your pasta, reserving a little bowl of pasta water on the side.
- Lightly sprinkle some freshly grated Parmesan on the pasta and stir, using the reserved water to help keep Parmesan from clumping.
- Stir over heat until just incorporated and remove from the heat. Serve with more Parmesan and bacon on the side.