Bacon & Leek Spaghetti
My summer vacation has officially begun! I have plans to take the summer off and relax with some camping, cooking and seeing some old friends. Tonight, I was in the mood for something light and easy for dinner so I picked up all the ingredients for this meal for under $14. The market here features predominantly local foods… but most importantly it’s a 2 minute walk away. I think this dish was great served hot but I think the leftovers will taste even better cold the next day.
The ingredients
Bacon, Leek, Roma Tomatoes, Watercress, Stuffed olives (pick any kind you like, these are garlic stuffed), Garlic, Spaghetti
First, get all the prepping out of the way. Chop the bacon up and fry until crispy, set aside in a bowl with chopped garlic and sliced olives. Dice the tomatoes into chunks and leave it with the watercress. Chop up the leek into half inch rings and make sure you wash the leeks really well to get all the dirt out from in between the layers. I left mine in the sink soaking in cold water.
Once the spaghetti water is boiling, add the washed leek to the same pan where you cooked the bacon. If you feel there’s too much bacon fat, just remove half of it from the pan beforehand. Let it cook for a few minutes to soften then add the bacon, garlic and olives to the pan. My mouth was watering by this point. You can add this mixture to anything and I would eat it!
Your spaghetti should be done in about 6 minutes. when it is add it to the bacon/leek pan with a bit of the pasta water and toss everything together. Now is a good time to add in the watercress and tomatoes. Just toss everything together until the watercress is wilted. (about 1 minute) I should have cooked this in a bigger pan but I really loved seeing the giant mound of watercress on top of my spaghetti!
Toss the final product with a bit of olive oil, a capful of red wine vinegar and some pepper. Don’t add salt, the bacon and the olives did that for you already. Looks good enough to have seconds. I garnished it with some leftover watercress leaves and some thyme just to make it look pretty.
