Linguine with Shrimp and Bacon in Red Wine Cream Sauce

     We love our pasta. If I made pasta every night, The Wife would be the happiest woman in the world. She'd also weigh 400 pounds and hold me responsible. Anyways, we love pasta. And shrimp. And bacon. I figured I'd combine them all into a new pasta dish. The addition of red wine was, in my humble opinion, a great idea. We used a red table wine and it gave the sauce a really good flavor. If liquor is not an option for your cooking, just use an equal amount of stock. Give it a try and let me know what you think! Unless you don't like it, in which case leave me the hell alone. As always, notes are in blue.

Linguine with Shrimp and Bacon
in Red Wine Cream Sauce

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound bacon, diced
• 1 pound shrimp
• 1/2 large red onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1/4 cup stock (you can use the water from cooking the shrimp)
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• black pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a pan, cook the bacon until starting to crisp. Drain, saving 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings. Remove bacon to a paper towel.
2. In a medium pot, boil the shrimp for a few minutes, until pink. Peel and remove tails. Put shrimp aside to drain. (Leave the tails in the peelings in the water to boil. That will serve as your stock)
3. In the pan with the grease, set heat to medium high. Add onion and garlic and sautee for 5-7 minutes. Do not let the garlic brown too much. 
4. Stir in the stock and the tomato paste. Bring to a simmer. Add the wine and simmer, stirring until the tomato paste is totally incorporated. 
5. Lower heat and add cream, and Parmesan. Stir until cheese is incorporated. (If you think the sauce is too thick, cut it with a little more stock)
6. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain and return to pot. Pour sauce in over pasta. Toss with chopped parsley and black pepper. 

Good Times!

Linguine with White Clam Sauce

     There are some recipes that are so deceptively simple it defies logic. This linguine with clams from The Everything Quick Meals Cookbook is one of them. The flavor of this dish is outstanding and it comes from a simple handful of ingredients. I made this for my father-in-law a few years ago for his birthday and he gets so excited every time I make it. He says it's as good as his mother made. Why is that a big deal? He's Italian. His parents came from Palermo, Sicily. This is just a fantastic recipe. When I make it, I generally just double off the recipe, just to be safe. As always, notes and changes are in blue.

Linguine with White Clam Sauce
via Everything Quick Meals Cookbook

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound linguine
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons white vermouth (I used dry vermouth)
• 2 6-1/2 ounce cans clams, juice reserved (minced or chopped depending on how big you like your clam bits)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (I ended up just eyeballing a reasonable amount of dried)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Cook linguine according to directions, drain. 
2. In a large skillet, heat the oil and saute the garlic until lightly golden, not burned (I can't imagine there is a recipe that calls for you to incinerate garlic)
3. Add the flour, vermouth and juice from clams; stir, bringing to a boil. Add the clams and parsley and simmer a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Toss with drained cooked pasta and serve immediately. 

Good times!

An Observation On My Parents' Cooking

     I was lucky enough to grow up in a house where both parents cooked. Granted, they did not cook every night. Both of my parents worked full time jobs. Mom usually wasn't home until about 5 PM and Dad an hour or so later. They wouldn't cook every night. Usually they'd cook a few big meals that we could eat on the rest of the week.
    On its own, this isn't anything special. Lots of parents do this. What stands out in my memory is that I don't recall them ever consulting a recipe when they cooked. I can't remember many of my recipes, no matter how often I cook them. I'm completely incapable of making my meatballs without the recipe handy. My parents either had fantastic memories, or were tremendous freestyle cooks.
     Generally my Mom came up with the core recipes. Dad would often just riff on her recipes. My Dad's chili that I've spoken of before is actually based on my Mom's recipe. She had some solid recipes. She did a chicken, veggie and rice dish that she could throw together in minutes. I swear by her meatloaf recipe. Even my wife, who normally doesn't like meatloaf, likes this meatloaf. She had a London Broil with garlic potatoes that was astounding. And as a Jewish Mother, she could deal out the chicken soup and matzoh balls like no body's business. Some day I shall speak to you of her sausage and neck bones in tomato sauce.
     Dad had his standards as well. He did a fantastic linguine in white clam sauce. He was the master of all things grilled. Nobody could make an omelet as good as him. His chili was the stuff of legend. He made a wonderful fried matzoh for breakfast. He eventually would take over Thanksgiving cooking duties from my Mom and did a wonderful job of it.
     I owe a good deal of my passion for cooking to my parents. Without ever trying, they showed me that, with very little effort, you could put good, home-made food on the table. There's a little of my Mom and Dad in everything I cook.

Oh, stop it.

Good times!