Taste & Create and a Made for me Dinner.... Favourite #3

Creamy Linguine

My daughter was home from university. Besides the obvious joy of having her home there were other advantages to having her here as well. She loves to cook , so , we baked shortbread and biscotti together as well as the advantage of having the occasional meal made for you. What could be better than that...except maybe making a meal for friends and family yourself??It's like having your own personal chef!! Oprah here I come!! She made California Rolls, Vegetable Curry and we even tackled turkey dinner together. It is not such a big job when there are more hands in the kitchen.






There is an event in the blogosphere that I try not to miss. It is the brainchild of Myamii over at For the Love of Food . We are paired with another blogger and we choose a recipe from their extensive posts, prepare the dish and then blog about it. I love this event because then I can showcase someone else's blog as well. This month I was paired with Gay at A Scientist in the Kitchen. It is always a pleasure to discover new blogs from all corners of the globe. Gay hails from the Philippines and she has many delicious recipes with an Asian flare.

What caught my eye though this time around was a dish for Creamy Linguine. The reason it caught my eye was because fettuccine Alfredo was on my daughters list for foods we must have while she is here and this is similar. Therefore, I could kill two birds with one stone.....make a delicious meal from Gay's wonderful blog and please my daughter all in one swoop. Gay also has delicious recipes for turkey they raise themselves as well as sausage, sopas and other delicious foods as well. Her original recipe is here . Please check out her blog...you will be glad you did.

Another reason this particular recipe works well for me is that I can add it to my list of favourite foods...this is #3. I love Alfredo sauces!!! You could add shrimp, chicken or vegetables to the mix and it would be as equally delicious.

Gay's recipe called for linguine which at the last minute I discovered I was out of, so, therefore I substituted some saffron fettuccine I had kicking around. There are as many versions of Alfredo as there are cooks. This dish was very tasty. It was kind of a twist on both a Carbonara and an Alfredo. I loved the addition of the tomatoes and the bacon which added another dimension to the pasta dish.

** Creamy Linguine**

4-5 bacon strips, fried till almost crispy then chopped
a sprig of parsley, chopped
several basil leaves, chopped
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 bulb of white onion, minced
one head of garlic, chopped
250ml (1 cup) all-purpose cream
dash of oregano powder
1/4 teaspoon each dried basil leaves, oregano leaves, tarragon leaves
4 ripe tomatoes, chopped and seeded
cayenne pepper or chili flakes (optional)
enough linguine for 4

First, bacon is cooked till most of the oil has been removed. Not too crispy either as the smoked bacon flavor tends to get lost in the cooking. Prepare all the other ingredients. While preparing the sauce, you can start boiling water for pasta which you will cook al dente following package directions.

Put olive oil in pan then add onions and a dash of salt. Saute for 30 seconds then add the chopped garlic. Saute till onion and garlic are limp. Add oregano powder and the dried herbs. Saute for a while then add cream. Mix till cream starts to simmer. The cream should start to almost curdle then add chopped basil leaves and parsley. Mix well then add the linguine pasta. Add the chopped tomatoes, bacon, then salt and pepper to taste. Remove pan from fire and serve. To give it some kick, add a dash (or several depending on how hot you like it) of cayenne pepper before adding pasta Or serve with chili flakes.

You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author/owner of More Than Burnt Toast. All rights reserved by Valerie Harrison.