Fettuccine with Asparagus and BACON

[BuyLowSellHigh]

First the end result, then I'll show the story.  This was made using an end piece from the first slab of bacon I made recently following Tenpoint5's famous recipe but without the maple syrup.  The money shot



Before the sauce begins, a large pot of water is put on to boil for the pasta.  As that comes up to speed I make the sauce.  The sauce should be fresh, ready and waiting for the pasta, not the other way around.

The sauce begins with ~3 Tb melted butter and ~ 1/2 cup onions, about 1/2 a medium yellow onion, cook over medium heat until the onions turn golden but without any browning or carmelization.  These are almost there.



Next add the bacon, about 4 oz., cut into ~1/8" x ~ 1" julienne.  When I made bacon I only took the temp to ~ 130 °F, so I precooked it a bit, stopping just before it started to brown and crisp.  If you have bacon that was fully cooked you can add it directly to the onions without precooking and cook with the onions for about 2-3 mins.



Next was ~ 2/3 lb of asparagus that was steamed until just tender, about 3-4 mins, cooled in ice water, then cut into ~2" pieces.  Add the asparagus to the onions and bacon and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes.  I missed the shot of that separately.

Next add ~ 1 cup of heavy cream, increase the heat to medium high and bring to a boil with fairly constant stirring and mixing.  Continue to cook and reduce until the cream begins to thicken, about 4-5 mins.



Kill the heat and add ~ 1/2 cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano, and blend into the cream mixture allowing the cheese to melt.  Do not heat further or the sauce can break.



The sauce will thicken with the addition of the cheese.  I check the thickness by dragging a silicone rubber spatula cross the bottom of the pan and watching the sauce flow back in to fill the gap.  If I got it right the center part just won't fill in completely for about a minute.  This was after about 20-30 seconds.



Cover the pan with the sauce loosely with foil and keep warm off heat until the pasta is done.  Cook the pasta as usual and drain, but do not rinse.  Tonight I used Fettuccine, but it also goes very well with Penne and Cavatapi.  



Combine the pasta with the sauce either by adding the drained pasta to the pan with the sauce or by putting the pasta in a prewarmed bowl and adding the sauce.  Toss well to combine.

This is a variation of a favorite recipe by Giuliano Hazan from his Classic Pasta Cookbook using prosciutto that I have used for several years.  Recently I have done this with end pieces from Canadian Bacon and tonight did it with my apple smoked bacon, and both work great.

[DTAggie]

Very nice Eric

[3rensho]

Looks delicious BLSH.  That's my kind of dish.  Alfredo's would be proud of that.

[classicrockgriller]

That looks like $$$ in the bank.

Normally I am a steak and tater guy, but I

could do some of that.

[deb415611]

Nice Eric!

[ronbeaux]

That looks really good!

[BuyLowSellHigh]

A note I should have added in the recipe ... there is NO salt added by design.  Any of the meats I indicated along with the Parm provide all the salt needed, especially prosciutto.  While Hazan's recipe doesn't call for it, I do add a couple of grinds of both black and white pepper and a a couple of gratings of fresh nutmeg too.

This is either the number 1 (2 votes) or number 2 (3 votes) favorite pasta in the house. It is good!

[Tenpoint5]

I may have to give this one a try, it looks really good!

[KyNola]

Great looking!  Sort of a cross between an alfredo and carbonara.  Love it!

[BuyLowSellHigh]

I've also done this with peas when asparagus was either poor quality or expensive (usually the two seem to go together).  Either fresh or thawed frozen work well.  I think somewhere around 1 - 1 1/2 cups would be about right.

[DarqMan]

Excellent dish! I've got to give this one a go.

[ArnieM]

Damn.  I just wanted to relax a bit but now I'm HUNGRY.  Looks great Eric.

[jiggerjams]

yeah I could dig in to that. Well Done.