5/6/05 | Quick Bacon Pasta
[ Currently Eating: Tea ]
I nearly always have some bacon around, because it tends to last a little longer in the fridge (several months?) than some other lunch meats and because it is usable for flavoring many things. (I’m not going to get into any fights with you health nuts out there - yeah I know that bacon ain’t the best for your plumbing).
Many pastas that I end up making involve some sort of bacon. I think the important thing is that because it’s high in the flavor department, you can pretty much get away with using only TWO strips of bacon for a one serving dish of pasta. It stretches the bacon out a bit and will no doubt please people concerned with cholesterol or fat.
Quick Bacon Pasta
Two slices bacon (from $4.00 pkg) — $0.25
Any Dry Pasta like Macaroni(4 oz of $0.99 8 oz bag) — $0.50
Parmesan cheese (1/4 oz of $3.50 8oz can) — $0.11
Olive oil (1 tbsp of $4.00 12 fl. oz bottle) — $0.17
Butter (1 tbsp of $1.00 4 oz stick) — $0.13
Milk (1/2 cup from $4.19 1/2 gallon lactaid) — $0.26
Chicken Stock (1/2 a $.50 can) — $0.25
Brown Onion (1/8 a $.50 onion) — $0.06
Parsley (1/4 cup chopped from $0.69 bunch) — $0.06
Salt / pepper — negligibleTotal: $1.79
Get a large pot of water going on the stove. Meanwhile, mince the brown onion and parsley and cut up the bacon into bite sized pieces. Fry the bacon in a skillet at low heat until extra crispy, remove to a paper lined plate and blot the oil. Set that aside for now, in the oven if you want.. I actually learned that taking it out of the pan and then adding it back only at the very end keeps the bacon more crispy. If you don’t care about that, you can leave the bacon in the pan and continue.
Drain off all but 1 tbsp or so of fat. Add 1/2 tbsp of olive oil. Add brown onion and cook for about three minutes or so on med heat. Turn up heat to high and deglaze the pan with chicken stock and milk, scraping it well. Sometimes I use a tbsp of vodka or white wine as well, but it’s not necessary. Reduce heat and simmer mixture for 5-10 minutes. You want it to thicken a bit. Watch out for the mixture foaming over though. You might need to add a bit of water and reduce heat.
When water boils, salt it and add macaroni. Cook till al dente then drain (don’t rinse or sauce won’t stick to pasta). Add pasta to skillet and toss well. Add parsley, parm cheese, butter and 1/2 tbsp olive oil if it’s too dry. Cook for about 1-2 minutes more. Off heat add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle the reserved bacon on top and serve.
I tend to try get plain old bacon on sale, like Farmer John’s or even generic (Albertson’s) bacon. You sort of need to try out each brand because they vary quite a bit in price, flavor and saltiness. Bigger companies like Farmer John’s also sell low-salt/fat bacon which actually was the same price and seemed to still be OK on flavor.
One popular variation in this dish is to slice up some button mushrooms and add them about half way through the simmering time of the sauce. The only thing is that while I absolutely love mushrooms, they can be expensive and do not keep very well, thus making them not very good Cheap Eats. Occasionally, I happen to need to buy mushrooms for some other recipe, and in that case I try to use up the leftover in a pasta dish like this. I haven’t tried canned mushrooms but I know a lot of places (even some restaurants) that swear by them.
Cheap Eats Score: 7/10
May 6th, 2005 at 8:11 am
Looks tasty!
>>I nearly always have some bacon around, because it tends to last a little longer in the fridge (several months?)
I believe the guideline is to use up bacon within three weeks of opening the package, so do be careful.
Jim
May 6th, 2005 at 8:16 am
Jim - Yeah, i think you are right on using up the bacon… the few times I did keep it for a long time I didn’t open it right away so that’s probably why it didn’t go bad. I guess this means you can buy the bacon in bulk in several packages and it will be fine as long as you don’t open then up.
May 6th, 2005 at 5:29 pm
May I ask what is the difference between a brown onion and a regular (white or yellow) onion?
May 6th, 2005 at 10:01 pm
Dustbuffalo - That’s a good question! I’m not really an expert on onions but I do know that in markets I’ve seen onions labeled as brown, yellow and white. Also, red and maui but those are definitely different.
The White Onions are pretty different from the yellow/brown, I notice that the skins are more “papery” like the outside of garlic cloves. I think I heard somewhere people often “stuff” these.
The Brown Onions have a pretty thick brown skin around them. I buy these the most, just because it’s what Albertson’s usually has in the front. Having that outer layer seems a bit more durable. I have a feeling this is the most commonly used though may depend on your area.
The Yellow Onions, to me have always looked similar to Brown Onions except with the brown wrapper mostly peeled off or something. I haven’t taste-tested them side by side so I’m not sure what the differences are… anyone else know more?
May 7th, 2005 at 7:27 am
I always have bacon in the freezer for dishes and what not. One thing I learned is that partially frozen meats (bacon, sausages, beef) are easier to cut. So when I need bacon bits, I take out the package, cut it vertically, and heat that up. You can of course make the pieces however big you want. The rest goes back in the freezer. This way I don’t have to worry about thawing out a whole package when I only want a little bit.
You do have to have a super sharp knife to do this.
May 7th, 2005 at 8:18 am
Andie - Yeah, freezing meat is a good way to make it last longer. I really like buying bulk sausages, wrapping them individually in sets of 2 or 3 with saran wrap and then putting them in a freezer ziploc bag. That way you don’t have to defrost a whole block of sausages when you need just a few for an individual meal. I do the same with ground beef. Double packing it like this also seems to stave off freezer burn longer.
I haven’t tried it with bacon because the bacon is usually stuck together as you say, though I DO have pretty sharp knives on hand. Thanks for the tip!
January 14th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
When cooking bacon, I like to bake it in the oven. I just put a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet and cook the bacon on that. You can cook it really fast with the broiler, and it comes out really crispy. If you use the broiler, you can usually cook it before the grease starts to sizzle and spatter. And all(most anyway) the grease just drips down onto the cookie sheet. A little bit more cleanup than normal, but I really like the way it turns out.
January 14th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
john - Yes, I have seen many food people on TV say that the best way to do bacon is to bake it in the oven. I haven’t done it yet, because I was afraid of the internal splatter as you said. Plus I don’t have a cooling rack to use for it.
March 25th, 2006 at 5:15 pm
More thoughts on the bacon pasta…if you have a couple of more high flavor ingredients lying around, adding sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts is really good! Maybe even some roasted peppers.
November 1st, 2009 at 10:15 am
My dad made me some bacon and I wanted pasta too. I googled “pasta and bacon recipes” and this came up. My dad and i are into some really good eats and have a pretty pricy palette usually. We absolutely love this recipe! Thanks a lot!