Attempting a comeback...4 years later!

This is the first post of my "new" blog. I am back, with a slightly revamped blog. As for why I have been absent, "they" tend to say, "life got in the way." My intention is to keep food cooking as the focus of this blog. I will be doing budget wine reviews, and maybe to odd music post here & there.I just want to jump in and get things rolling with a new recipe that I threw together tonight. It doesn't have a name, but I think I will call it "Bacon, Tomato & White Wine Pasta Toss." Succinct and original, I know.

Ingredients:
5 large tomatoes
8-10 cloves of garlic, pressed

5-6 shallots (or 1/2 sweet red onion), diced

1/2 bell pepper, finely diced

1 tsp. dried basil

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1 lb of bacon, chopped
1/2 bottle (325 ml) of white wine
1 box of spaghetti (or other pasta)

1.5 cups fresh grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese

Directions:

Chop tomatoes, onion/shallots, & bell pepper. Press 2 cloves of garlic into the onions.

I recommend draining the tomatoes, to eliminate some of the moisture in the sauce. I just put them into a metal strainer and place it in a bowl and leave it to drain while I prep the other ingredients.

Put chopped bacon in a heated skillet and stir-fry until done to your liking (I don't like my bacon too crispy). While the bacon is cooking, grate the cheese (I used Asiago) and get out the wine (my next entry will most likely be on this bottle of wine. Let's just say, it was a good cooking wine, haha).

When the bacon is done cooking, drain it and set aside.

Return skillet to stovetop and deglaze the brown bits stuck on the pan with a few splashes of white wine. Stir until you have a rich brown liquid. Add the onions & 2 cloves of garlic, and bell pepper. Saute in liquid, until onions & pepper are soft and have turned a rich dark color. If the pan dries out berfore the vegetables are tender, keep adding a few splashes of wine.



When the onions & peppers are done, add the tomatoes, basil, thyme & organo to the pan, and pour in the remainder of the wine.



This is the obligatory picture of cooking pasta according to package directions.


Bring the sauce to a simmer, and continue to simmer for 10 minutes or until it reaches a consistancy desirable to you (I like a thick consistency so I simmer it a little longer). Drain pasta, ad it to the skillet and toss with sauce, bacon & grated cheese.

Not to toot my own horn (ok yes, to toot my own horn), I would be very happy if this were served to me in a restaraunt, and my husband really liked it too!

The final result:


Thanks for reading!