Comfort food

Sunday, 10:01 pm

By Kate

Dec

18

2005

One of the ways to ensure that the house is clean is to invite someone over for dinner. I spent the better half of the afternoon picking up and putting things away. Then dusting. Then mopping the kitchen floor. Everything sparkled.

Once that was done, I dragged out some more of my Santa Claus collection (mostly old Victorian Santas) and placed them around the dining room. And got out some pretty candles and turned on some Christmas music. By the time I started preparing the meal, this house was festive indeed.

The dinner wasn’t exactly holiday fare, but I’d been promising to make this dish for a friend for a long time. She has been going through a hard time in her life over the last year and having someone cook for her is the height of luxury. She really didn’t care what I cooked. The idea that she was going to be served made her so excited that she could hardly wait until she could come over.

The fact that the house smelled as promised made her all the more delighted.

Well, really, it’s not a fancy recipe or meal. Not at all. And it’s certainly not a heart healthy meal. But it’s one that hits the spot on a cold winter’s night. I don’t think it even has a name. And I don’t have the foggiest idea where I originally found the recipe. It was years ago. As usual, the dish turned out just fine and received enthusiastic reviews. The real test though is when your guest digs in for seconds. I think it passed with flying colors. I also have a lot left over, which is a good thing. This dish seems to grow in flavor overnight. Microwave the leftovers and you’d swear it just came fresh off the stove. Yum!

So what is this recipe? It’s a pasta dish and so easy to make that it should be kept a secret. Nothing that good should take so little effort.

Ingredients:

2 pounds of linguine cooked to preference
2 large sweet white onions, sliced, with slices cut into quarters
1 pound of bacon

Cook the bacon in a deep pan until crisp. Remove to paper towels to drain.

Add all the onion to the bacon fat. Saute until the onions are transparent.

Crumble bacon in the bottom of a deep bowl. Place hot pasta over it. Add the cooked onion and bacon fat on top of the pasta. Mix thoroughly.

Crack some fresh pepper over the top. Eat and enjoy.

_______________

I know it’s probably enough to clog your arteries for the next six months, but once in a great while it’s the ideal comfort food for a cold night with friends and a bottle of wine. We had a lot of fun tonight.