Tomato, bacon and chorizo pasta
Gosh, it's been a while, hasn't it, since I wrote something here? Please do not think that I have lost interest - far from it. It is just the usual story of 'too much to do, too little time.'
As proof that I am still alive and kicking, I just wanted to write a quick post about the supper I threw together tonight. Husband comes home from work and, while emptying dishwasher, casually asks what I might be planning for supper. So I casually lay my iron to rest on the board for a moment, and ask, equally casually, what he had for lunch (he had a client lunch so it was squid followed by a roast beef salad somewhere posh rather than the more mundane option of a sandwich on the hoof). Feeling a little weary having been out all day and still with three recalcitrant children to get to bed, I peered into the fridge, checked a few sell-by dates and suggested baked potatoes and coleslaw. I may as well have suggested a cup of cold sick, such was the tepid reaction. 'Ok then', I say brightly, 'how about pasta with chorizo, bacon and tomato sauce?' This met with a warmer reception. Pasta it was then.
Once children dispatched, finally, to bed and a glass of white wine poured, I set about my task. I cut off a chunk of chorizo, sliced it thickly and then cut these slices into quarters. I then opened a packet of rindless, unsmoked bacon, removed half of it and cut it into 3cm sections which I then separated before chucking into a heavy based non-stick saute pan with a sliced red onion. I would have chopped up garlic and thrown it in but I had none, so that was that. I let all this cook down nicely before adding a tub of ready-made Neapolitana tomato sauce (from Tesco as it happens, but many shops have this - a tin of chopped tomatoes would have done just as well). I kept this on the heat for a few minutes to thoroughly warm through and absorb the flavours and juices of the chorizo and bacon. Meanwhile I cooked some tubular pasta - but any good pasta shape or spaghetti or linguine or whatever takes your fancy would do - which I then drained and tossed in butter before stirring in the tomato and meat sauce. I ripped up a clutch of fresh basil leaves before spooning it into bowls. All it needed was a bit of freshly grated parmesan and a drizzle of good quality olive oil and Bob's your Uncle. A perfect little pasta dish made from storecupboard and fridge inmates. It was so good we gobbled the entire saucepan-full. More than was strictly needed at 10 o'clock at night and for a woman of a certain age with a waistline to consider...(but you only live once, don't you?).
Ps: no photo I'm afraid as I wasn't expecting it to be anything special. Just goes to show.
As proof that I am still alive and kicking, I just wanted to write a quick post about the supper I threw together tonight. Husband comes home from work and, while emptying dishwasher, casually asks what I might be planning for supper. So I casually lay my iron to rest on the board for a moment, and ask, equally casually, what he had for lunch (he had a client lunch so it was squid followed by a roast beef salad somewhere posh rather than the more mundane option of a sandwich on the hoof). Feeling a little weary having been out all day and still with three recalcitrant children to get to bed, I peered into the fridge, checked a few sell-by dates and suggested baked potatoes and coleslaw. I may as well have suggested a cup of cold sick, such was the tepid reaction. 'Ok then', I say brightly, 'how about pasta with chorizo, bacon and tomato sauce?' This met with a warmer reception. Pasta it was then.
Once children dispatched, finally, to bed and a glass of white wine poured, I set about my task. I cut off a chunk of chorizo, sliced it thickly and then cut these slices into quarters. I then opened a packet of rindless, unsmoked bacon, removed half of it and cut it into 3cm sections which I then separated before chucking into a heavy based non-stick saute pan with a sliced red onion. I would have chopped up garlic and thrown it in but I had none, so that was that. I let all this cook down nicely before adding a tub of ready-made Neapolitana tomato sauce (from Tesco as it happens, but many shops have this - a tin of chopped tomatoes would have done just as well). I kept this on the heat for a few minutes to thoroughly warm through and absorb the flavours and juices of the chorizo and bacon. Meanwhile I cooked some tubular pasta - but any good pasta shape or spaghetti or linguine or whatever takes your fancy would do - which I then drained and tossed in butter before stirring in the tomato and meat sauce. I ripped up a clutch of fresh basil leaves before spooning it into bowls. All it needed was a bit of freshly grated parmesan and a drizzle of good quality olive oil and Bob's your Uncle. A perfect little pasta dish made from storecupboard and fridge inmates. It was so good we gobbled the entire saucepan-full. More than was strictly needed at 10 o'clock at night and for a woman of a certain age with a waistline to consider...(but you only live once, don't you?).
Ps: no photo I'm afraid as I wasn't expecting it to be anything special. Just goes to show.
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