Bacon and Tomato Pasta

One Year Ago:  Strawberry-Banana Waffles  

Saturday, August 6th was my birthday, the big 3-0.  As chance would have it, my darling husband fell terribly ill for two straight days and my birthday weekend was spent quietly indoors.  For my gift, I had wished for a new mountain bike.  You see, there is this amazingly beautiful trail within walking distance from our house extending 20 miles that I have been dying to ride with him.  He finally was feeling better and we purchased the perfect bike.  Weather permitted us to enjoy two separate exhilarating 12-mile rides during the week.  Now, this entire past weekend was supposed to be sunny, beautiful and a "make up for my birthday" and I was looking forward to a weekend of the outdoors.  Saturday morning, we were packing up our things and then the dark clouds began to creep in.  The weathermen were wrong; we were rained out the entire weekend.  Needless to say, I was rather disappointed, so I turned to two things that make every dreary weekend better -- bacon and chocolate!  After baking four dozen chocolate chip cookies, my husband inquired about dinner and I knew right away that I was going to use up the obscene amount of bacon that I had purchased from my butcher.  This is a slightly different take on Guy Fieri's version mainly due to the fact that I was not going to run to the grocery store in the rain, so I improvised on a few things.  My family loved this.  It was flavorful and comforting and will definitely be put into the dinner routine.    

Ingredients:

• 8 oz spaghetti
• 1/2 lb bacon, chopped 
• 1/2 c onion, diced 
• 2 cloves garlic, minced 
• 1 large tomato, diced 
• 1/2 c tomato sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar 
• 2 tbsp red wine 
• 1 tsp dried basil (or 1 tbsp fresh)
• 1 tsp dried thyme (or 1 tbsp fresh)
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary (or 1/2 tbsp fresh)
• 1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese 
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste 

Directions:


Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Cook the pasta until al dente.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, add the bacon and saute until it becomes crispy.  Remove the bacon using a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.  Pour off half of the bacon fat from the skillet.

Add the onion to the skillet and cook until soft, about 5 to 7 minutes.  Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in the tomatoes, tomato sauce and sugar and cook for 5 minutes.  Deglaze with the wine, scraping up the brown bits.

Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet.  Season with the basil, thyme and rosemary.  Stir in the bacon.  Sprinkle the Parmesan and toss to combine.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Enjoy!