By J.M. Hirsch
AP Food Editor
It was an interesting dinner dilemma. A huge bag of incredibly aromatic fresh basil. A heap of pasta that just begged for pesto. And one lactose intolerant dinner guest who couldn’t eat the Parmesan cheese that gives pesto its deeply savory flavor.
My options seemed bleak. Vegan pestos were out; they fool no one. I was leaning toward thinly slicing the basil and tossing it with the pasta along with some extra-virgin olive oil, minced garlic, a pinch of red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper.
That would have been fine, but then I started considering other ingredients that share Parmesan’s seriously savory (also called umami in the food world) flavor profile. And of those ingredients, which could handle being ground up into pesto.
Bacon.
Just trust me. It was a stunning success. The resulting pesto was meatier than conventional recipes, but not heavy in the way a meat sauce is. And as it does with Parmesan, the herby taste of the basil cuts through the fatty bacon.
This pesto is delicious tossed with pasta, but it’s also great smeared onto slices of sourdough bread, topped with tomato and a slab of fresh mozzarella, then briefly broiled.
Bowtie Pasta With Bacon Pesto
Start to finish: 20 minutes
Servings: 46 slices thick-cut bacon (preferably smoked)
12 ounces farfalle pasta
2 1/2 C. (about 4 ounces) fresh basil
1/4 C. pine nuts
3 cloves garlic
1/4 C. extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
1 tomato, seeded and diced
In a large skillet over medium-high, cook the bacon until crisp, about 8 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to paper towels and drain well. Let the bacon cool slightly.
Meanwhile, bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions. Reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta, return it to the pot and set aside.
In a food processor, combine the bacon, basil, pine nuts 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 salt and pepper, then pulse again to blend.
Add the pesto to the pasta and toss well. Add just a bit of the pasta cooking water and toss again. Serve topped with diced tomato.
Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 576 calories; 235 calories from fat; 26 g fat (4 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 13 mg cholesterol; 68 g carbohydrate; 18 g protein; 4 g fiber; 440 mg sodium.
Editor’s note: J.M. Hirsch can be e-mailed at jhirsch@ap.org.