50 Pastas Bacon Parsnip
OK, so this happened…
I drove my son and I to the local grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner that evening. At this particular establishment you have to pay a quarter to use one of their grocery carts…which I am perfectly ok with.
So quarter in one hand and “Little Lew” in the other we start walking toward the store when an older couple unloading their cart asks if we needed one and if we would like to use theirs. Why yes, that would be splendid. How nice, I thought to myself, it’s wonderful when fellow citizens like to help each other out by sharing the load of paying 25 cents for a shopping cart. I loaded “Little Lew” in the front of the cart, placed our bags in the back of the cart and proceeded to thank the couple again for their generosity.
“That’ll be a quarter” the woman said.
I proceeded to laugh it off like she was joking….she wasn’t joking.
“No seriously, it’s 25 cents” she said pointing at the small sign on the shopping cart.
Stunned and wide eyed I handed her the quarter I had been warming in my left hand unsure of how to respond. She snatched the quarter from my hand and shouted “WOO HOO!” THEN she skipped off and drove away in her BMW…
…ok so maybe it wasn’t a BMW but that would have made the story more funny…anywho, people can leave me a little miffed sometimes, but who knows…maybe she needed that quarter more than me.
So let’s make a pasta dish with bacon and parsnips and forget this whole thing happened…
Slices of thick cut bacon are chopped and cooked in a heavy bottom pan with some olive oil. Make sure those tender morsels get nice and crispy…it’s the only way to eat bacon in my book!
Toss in your chopped parsnip pieces and cook until softened. According to the sign at Meijer parsnips can be used as a replacement for potatoes…so if you are in the mood to lighten up your mashed potatoes consider these cuties.
Stir in some cooked orecchiette, grated parmesan and parsley till well combined. Finish with a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. Paired with a side of roasted veggies like cauliflower and broccoli this dinner is served!
It’s amazing what kind of flavor can be developed with such few ingredients. This pasta dish is so simple yet so decadent at the same time and we didn’t even break a sweat!
Ready to move on from today’s scerfuffle, I raise my fork to you and say “Don’t sweat the petty stuff…and for darn sake DON’T PET the SWEATY stuff!” (Sheesh!)
Love you guys!
JJ
- 6 strips of bacon, chopped
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 Parsnips, chopped
- 1 lb of orecchiette pasta
- ½ cup parmesan, shredded
- ½ cup parsley chopped
- Pinch of grated nutmeg
- Cook the bacon in the olive oil over medium heat till nice and crisp. Toss in the chopped parsnips and allow it to cook and soak in that bacon fat flavor. Meanwhile cook the orecchiette pasta according to the package instructions. (Remember, 1 minute less than the package directions equals “al dente”). Once the parsnips have softened stir in the orecchiette pasta, parmesan and parsley till evenly combined. Finish with a pinch of grated nutmeg and serve immediately.
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