Sometimes I even surprise myself- Pasta with Brussels Sprouts and Bacon

I'm not gonna lie. I'm a mediocre cook. I can put together a tasty meal most of the time, but it's nothing out of the ordinary. But sometimes I strike gold, and when that happens, I'm quite aware that it's pure luck.

This was one of those times. Tired from a full day of skiing followed by a 3 mile training run. Limited on ingredients, and trying to clean out the fridge at the same time. Consuming most of a bottle of white wine. Et voila. Out comes magic. This is why sometimes I find it hard to care too much about cooking, because its when I care the least that it works out the most. The more invested I am in it, the worse it turns out. Perhaps its just my poor luck. Or perhaps its that carefree mentality that allows my stress to be low and the recipe to work just perfectly. Either way, this one was a homerun.

Or maybe it was the white wine talking, but after a day full of activity, this was about as good as it gets.

And not to mention the fact that at the same time I was coaching my errant husband, via Skype, how to cook his first meal (curtesy of Ms Martha Stewart, whose recipes I may extol in a later entry).



Pasta with Brussels Sprouts and Bacon

12 oz. penne pasta
salt and pepper, to taste
2 slices of good thick bacon, not too lean, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1/2 onion (or 2-3 shallots), diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
8-10 brussles sprouts, halved and de-stemmed
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
Sharp dry cheese such as Romano or Parmigiano, shredded (optional)

Fill a large pot with water to 2/3 and bring to a boil over high heat. Add some salt to season and then add pasta. Cook as package specifies or until just al dente. Drain and reserve.



Meanwhile, in a saute pan heated to medium-high heat, add the chopped bacon. Cook until bacon is just starting to get crispy (don't overcook!). Add the onions, brussels sprouts and garlic, and cook; stirring frequently until the sprounts are tender and the onions are translucent (see note). Don't let the garlic brown, if it starts to, add some water to the mix.

Add the white wine to the pan and cook until the wine has mostly cooked off and onions are just a bit liquidy, maybe 2-3 minutes. Add the stock, stir well and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper to taste, bringing the heat down so the pan is at a simmer.

Heat the empty pasta pot to medium heat, add the olive oil and then add the brussels sprouts mixture. After a moment, toss the drained pasta in with the vegetable sauce stirring frequently so that the pasta doesn't burn. Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring and tossing frequently, or until the pasta has gotten fully coated with the sauce. I used to skip this step, but Top Chef has won me over, and I fully believe it's the best way to get a thin sauce to really coat every piece of pasta. Trust me, it's worth the extra five minutes.

Serve garnished with the cheese, if desired.

Note: I used leftover roasted brussels sprouts, so literally only added them to the pan long enough to heat them. If you use fresh, I'm not sure how long it would take to cook them through. you might have to cook them longer than my estimated time (10-15 minutes). I advise you to take this into account, or consider roasting them beforehand in some olive oil and salt and pepper for 45 minutes until they start to get crispy on the outside.

Citrus-Soy Sweet Potato Salad

It's funny, as I've learned to cook, I've started cooking more and more simply. You'd think I'd have started off that way, but I started off as a strictly-recipe cook, and the more ingredients and fancier the recipe, the more it challenged me and made me want to try my hand. But as I've gotten the basics of cooking down I find myself straying from recipes more and more, or even better, not being able to find the 'perfect' recipe and just deciding to wing it myself. Either way, the recipes and the ideas that attract me aren't the ultra-complex ones, but the very simplest. And during this time of year, with the short sunlight hours and frigid temps, I crave a simple hearty meal with a handful of ingredients that pull together quickly, so I can get back under that blanket on the couch.

Of course, simple recipes and limited ingredients also mean less time spent grocery shopping, which is typically a sideshow event around here with tourists constantly rolling in and trying to buy meals for their entire ski trip.

I think this recipe is equally good as a main dish, served over rice if you want to make it more filling, or a supporting dish to a piece of pork cooked asian style with similar ingredients.

Citrus-Soy Sweet Potato Salad

2 lbs. sweet potatoes, or desired amount, peeled and cut into cubes or spears or whatever shape you most desire (I cut mine into rounds because the sweets were the narrow squiggly kind)

2 Tbsp olive oil

s + p

2-3 green onions, cut diagonally into slices

1 tsp peanut oil

1-inch piece of garlic, peeled and cut into thin slices

2 cloves garlic, peeled and cut into thin slices

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup soy sauce

juice of 1 lime

2 Tbsp rice vinegar

1 Tbsp mirin

Preheat the oven to 425F. Toss the cut sweets in the olive oil and desired amount of salt and pepper to season. Bake for 35-40 minutes, tur

ning them half way through. The potatoes should be fork tender but not completely mushy.

Meanwhile, on the stove top make the dressing in a small sauce pan.

Over medium-high heat, add the peanut oil, ginger and garlic, saute 1-2 minutes until fragrant but the garlic is not browned. Add the orange juice and the soy and bring to a boil, cooking for 5-10 minutes or until the sauce has started to reduce a bit. Add the juice of the lime, and the vinegar and mirin. Reduce the heat and cook until it doesn't taste overwhelmingly soy-like or vinegary. The flavors should all kind of meld.

In a bowl, toss the sweet potatoes and green onions, then pour the dressing over and toss to coat.

Note: I had problems getting my soy-orange juice mixture to reduce, in the future I might consider adding some brown sugar instead of the mirin for sweetness, which might help with thickening the sauce, or just cheat and use some corn starch.