Penne with bacon, chick peas and tomatoes

Another recipe, I made this one yesterday for a monumental event my boss celebrates annually called Baconfest, where all the entries, desserts, appetizers, even drinks have to include the infamous meat candy, bacon. As usual I eyeball all the measurements, I'm not a professional cook, just a normal guy with an uncanny passion for cooking.

Ingredients:

1 box of penne rigate pasta
2.5 lbs of smoked thick cut bacon
28 oz can of diced tomatoes
29 oz can of Goya chick peas
Olive Oil
Half bar of butter
White cooking wine
Heavy whipping cream
Corn starch

Procedure:

1. Cook the bacon, don't crisp it, just cook until is golden and the smell is overwhelming, at the same time boil water with the Kosher salt and olive oil for the pasta, when the water is boiling throw the pasta for 10 minutes and drain.

2. Once the bacon is ready, mix it with the diced tomatoes and the chick peas and cook for about 10 minutes in medium temperature

3. Don't throw way the bacon drippings, in a sauce pan, mix the drippings, with the half bar of butter, a teaspoon of Kosher salt, some olive oil, white cooking wine and cornstarch stir at medium temperature until the sauce gets thick and creamy

4. Back to the diced tomatoes, bacon and chick peas, once you cooked the mixture for 10 mins. add the penne rigate and mix everything well, once you have everything well mixed, add the sauce and mix everything until you see the creamy goodness all over.

5. I don't think this dish needs any sides, maybe a nice salad a glass of wine.

Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with ground turkey

Those who know me well know I have an amateurish passion for cooking and explore everything food, from the conventional to the not so conventional. Last Saturday my wife and I had visitors and I when I was about to call for pizza, my wife asked me to cook something instead, she knows it doesn't require much for me to obey that command since I'm really passionate about cooking and is like therapy for me. So I checked my pantry and fridge to see what I got and came up with the following...

1 box of whole wheat spaghetti
2 small trays of ground turkey
1 can of light beer
Olive oil
1 envelope of Sazón Goya
Adobo Goya
Sofrito Goya
5 or 6 slices of Velveeta cheese
Ketchup (eyeballing of course)

Procedure

I put olive oil on the pot and start browning the ground turkey, once it has some color, I add the can of beer (I use beer instead of stock, believe me is awesome), add the envelope of Sazón, the Adobo and sofrito and let it simmer for about 30 to 45 mins. in medium heat until most of the liquid is gone. For the pasta, I put water to a boil with salt and olive oil, once the water is boiling I put the pasta for 11 minutes (11 mins. is perfect for whole wheat to get an al dente texture). Once both the ground turkey and the pasta are ready, I mixed them until they're well integrated, then add the slices of cheese and the ketchup mix again until all the cheese is melted and the ketchup is well integrated to the mix. You can serve with a garlic/oregano butter on toast.