Over the years Valentine’s Day has taken on many incarnations. For the first eighteen years of my life I absolutely despised the day because it represented a day when I was tangibly reminded of the fact that I was not popular nor were any of the boys at my school remotely interested in me. I’m sure we’ve all been there at one time or another…it feels lousy and it greatly influenced how I have celebrated the occasion as an adult.
While the day has been consistently good from the time I was nineteen on, I still choose to commemorate it in a more low-key fashion. I’ll pass on the overcrowded restaurants and boxes of chocolate (wait, I take that back, please still give me the chocolate!) and instead generally opt to cook a nice meal at home and enjoy some down time with my valentine.
In keeping with that tradition, today’s recipe is equal parts simple and delicious making it the ideal Valentine’s Day dinner. This bacon asparagus pasta has been a favorite in our house for over a year. You can whip up this five-ingredient Valentine’s Day recipe in a jiffy and are guaranteed to please your guest. Especially guests of the bacon loving variety.
While I would love to take credit for this deliciousness unfortunately I can’t; I’m just here to pass it on. This baby is courtesy of Ali over at Gimme Some Oven. I’ve sung her praises before and I’ll sing them again…she has fabulous recipe ideas specifically catered to skill level. Definitely check her out and in the meantime enjoy her fabulous recipe!
Just five ingredients!
To make the fact that this recipe requires only five ingredients even better, as an extra bonus you’ll find that you have more than half a bottle of wine left over after your pasta prep. Perfect for Valentine’s Day, right?
The pasta cooking away.
So just to review…this recipe is splendidly easy to make, includes BACON and leaves you with the majority of a bottle of wine to drink while you’re dining. It’s a Valentine’s Day win, win, win.
- 1/2 lb uncooked pasta I use Trader Joe's brown rice quinoa spaghetti.
- 1/2 lb bacon diced
- 1/2 lb fresh asparagus Cut into 2" pieces.
- 1 cup white wine
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated or flaked
- Cook pasta according to package instructions.
- While pasta is cooking add bacon to a saute pan. Cook over medium heat until crispy.
- Remove bacon and set aside.
- Add asparagus to the pan you used for the bacon and saute for 5 - 6 minutes.
- Remove asparagus and set aside.
- Slowly add white wine to bacon and asparagus pan, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen bacon bits. Cook for approximately 5 minutes until wine is reduced by half.
- When pasta finishes cooking, drain it and add to pan with white wine along with bacon and asparagus. Toss until combined.
- Sprinkle pasta with Parmesan and serve immediately.
Ali's recipe calls for 1/2 cup of white wine with the option of using 1 full cup. I prefer the taste and texture with the full cup of wine but you can certainly use less if you so desire.
The original recipe has you adding 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese in with the pasta, bacon and asparagus as you toss them together. I try to avoid the Parmesan so I generally add it in only at the end.