Bacon Salt Recipe: Bowtie Pasta with Peppered Bacon Pesto

Homemade pesto is so simple and so good. For some reason, the ready made stuff you buy in the store just never seems to approach what you can make at home with basil, garlic, cheese and pine nuts. This recipe adds the delicious taste of peppered bacon to an already awesome dish. To make more of a meal out of this, you can add cooked chicken and/or cooked peas.

Bowtie Pasta with Peppered Bacon Pesto

• 12 ounces farfalle pasta
• 2½ cups (about 4 ounces) fresh basil
• ¼ cup pine nuts
• 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
  
• ½ tsp Peppered or other flavor Bacon Salt
• 3 cloves garlic
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Ground black pepper, to taste
• 3-4 pepperoncinis, seeded and sliced

• 1 tomato, seeded and diced

Bring a large saucepan of salted (with Bacon Salt) water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions. Reserve ¼ cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta, return it to the pot and set aside.

In a food processor, combine the basil, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, Bacon Salt and garlic. Pulse until well chopped. Then, with the processor running, drizzle in the olive oil until the ingredients form a thick paste. Stop the processor and scrape the sides with a rubber spatula as needed. Season with pepper, then pulse again to blend.

Add the pesto and peas to the pasta and toss well. Add just a bit of the pasta cooking water, pepperoncinis and toss again. Serve topped with diced tomato and some additional parmesan cheese.

Comments

[Sue Speck]

Please re-post this luscious-sounding recipe: half of it is missing, including the directions.
Thanks!

[J&D]

should be fixed!