Too Much Bacon? Oh, Clam Up!

Yesterday was one of those cook-from-the-pantry days.  It was gray and rainy, and I didn't want to go to the grocery store.  I almost always have pasta and cans of chopped clams in my pantry, so linguine with clam sauce seemed to fill the bill.  Clams are supposed to be high in protein, iron and other minerals, and B12.  They are also low in fat.  So what's the best way to take this healthy food and make it less healthy, but very, very tasty?  Bacon!  Ten slices of bacon!  It's a lot of bacon, but too much?  I'd say, just right.

Mmmm, bacon!

Bacon and clam sauce is a special, yummy treat at our house.  Even though I usually have the ingredients for this dish on hand (except for fresh parsley in the winter), I don't make it often because of all the bacon.  We LOVE bacon, but it's not exactly health food, is it?  How cool is it, though, that a special treat dish also happens to be one I can whip up when the fridge is kind of bare?  In addition to the bacon, garlic and cayenne pepper give this dish a lot of flavor.

Luckily there was still
parsley in the garden.

This recipe, with only slight modifications, comes from a great little soft cover cookbook called All the Best Pasta Sauces by Joie Warner.  My copy is from 1987, but you can still get the book on Amazon, lots of used copies available too.  It's a wonderful little book if you like pasta.

Crispy Bacon and Clam Linguine

Slightly adapted from All the Best Pasta Sauces by Joie Warner

10 slices bacon, preferably smoked

1 tablespoon olive oil

3/4 pound linguine

1 small onion, finely chopped

3-4 large garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley (can omit if you don’t have fresh, or add a tablespoon dried parsley in last step of cooking)

1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 5-ounce cans chopped clams, drained, reserving 1/4 cup broth

Grated Parmesan cheese

Lots of clams, too, not just bacon.

Heat water for linguine.

Fry bacon in large skillet until crisp.  Remove bacon to paper-towel-lined plate.  Pour out bacon drippings, reserving 1/4 cup.  Return 1/4 cup bacon drippings to skillet.  Break bacon into bite-sized pieces and set aside.

Begin cooking linguine.

Add olive oil to bacon drippings in skillet.  Heat over medium heat and add onion and garlic.  Cook about 3 minutes, until tender.  Add fresh parsley, cayenne, and black pepper, and cook about 2 minutes.  Stir in clams and broth (add dried parsley here if using).   Cook until heated through.  

Combine with hot pasta, top with bacon pieces and toss to combine.  Top with grated cheese if desired.

Serves four.

Printable Recipe

Nigella's Chicken Schnitzel

I once heard an interview with Michael Caine on NPR where he recalled growing up with a somewhat opinionated and unenlightened father.  His father apparently refused to eat chicken as it was not a manly meat.  Whether it is manly or not, we eat a fair amount of chicken at our house, so I'm always looking for new ways to prepare it.  The other day, I stumbled on a recipe from Nigella Lawson for chicken schnitzel with bacon and white wine.

It's not really a proper schnitzel, but it did sound interesting, so I gave it a try.

The sauce looks mostly like bacon grease here, but there is wine in there!

The chicken was flavorful. I used a hickory smoked bacon for a smoky flavor and some Yellowtail Moscato, which added a touch of sweetness.   I also added a sprinkling of salt and pepper, which the recipe did not include.  The chicken itself was a little thick.  I had cut the breasts in half, but I think next time (if I am not too lazy) I will go the extra step and pound them into very thin pieces.

If you aren't afraid of unmanly meat, you can find the recipe on Nigella Lawson's website.