Right off the bat, I have to give you ESers credit for suggesting the Pioneer Woman’s pasta recipe. I used it for my second go at making pasta and it blew the recipe from the pasta machine box out of the water. It’s funny how only a few tiny little differences can make such a sea change in the final product. I guess you bakers out there already knew that, huh? I don’t know if it was the flour-to-egg ratio, the beating the eggs by hand (which was fun!) or something else that put this one over the top, but it finally got me that fresh fettuccine I was looking for.
Still, as tasty as fresh pasta is, it’s still just pasta, and if you ask me it needs some added oomph. I was tempted to add some truffle oil or basil or something weirder right into the dough, but I wanted to first see how the basic recipe worked, so I resisted the urge this time. (Yep, I’m proud of myself and yep, I’m open to suggestions for the future.)
So the flava experimenting was left for the pasta add-ons. Looking around my kitchen, I saw the usual suspects: bacon and pine nuts. Two ingredients I’ve blabbed on about for years, yet had somehow never completely been brought together. Until now.
Fresh Fettuccine with Bacon, Spinach, and Bacon-Toasted Pine Nuts
1. Follow Pioneer Woman’s instructions for perfect fresh pasta.
2. Fry up a few slices of bacon.
3. Remove your bacon from the pan (keep that grease in there) and add a liberal handful of pine nuts to the pan. Stir these around frequently to make sure they don’t burn. OMFG how have I not thought of this before? You get that beautiful pine nut texture but with a nice coating of bacon flav on the outside. Pine nuts and bacon together at last. It’s like having a wife and a girlfriend at the same time.
4. Just so you don’t feel completely bad about yourself, add some fresh spinach to the pan and cook it down with the pine nuts. Now it’s a healthy meal!
5. Cook your pasta. Drain it and mix with the spinach and pine nuts. Crumble bacon over the top.
6. Maybe add some butter for a little more flavor. Yes, I made a double bacon dish and thought it still needed butter. Don’t judge me.
7. Enjoy. Check out more pasta recipes on Endless Simmer.
