Monday, February 15, 2010

Day One - Gordon Ramsay Makes It - Pasta with Bacon and Peas


First try for the week Pasta with Bacon and Peas.  Gordon, Gordon, Gordon, granted this was a very easy and simple dish, but really I thought my mouth would be watering for the next fork full of food, not the case at all.

The Pasta with Bacon and Peas recipe had a few little things that could stand some changes.  First, Gordon instructs that you sauté onions and garlic in olive oil, then add bacon and cook until bacon is crisp.  The problem with this approach is that your onions and your garlic starts to burn which adds a bitter taste, not to mention an unpleasant presentation.  To try and control this, I lowered the heat and kept stirring the ingredients.  It helped some, but not much.  Best idea is to cook the bacon first then the onions and garlic. The second issue I had was, he indicated to season with salt and pepper to taste.  This dish needs a bit more than salt and pepper to kick up the flavor a bit.  Even after I added the Parmesan Cheese, the dish was still lacking something.  It's a plain and simple dish, which would make for an ideal midweek dinner, but a bit of butter; lemon zest or nutmeg would have given it a bit more punch for taste.  This dish looked great, but a bit bland.

I'm still reviewing the book, so I hope to pick a recipe that provides a bit more wow factor.  Hey! It doesn't have to be glamorous and expensive to taste great.


The Cookbook Addict

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