Pasta Rags with Chicken, Bacon and Leeks

When Chris walked in the door tonight he said whatever I was cooking smelled good outside. Okay I don't like to brag but holy cow this was good.

This meal came together the other day when a friend at work gave me some leeks from her CSA. Thank you Wendy! I love leeks. I usually make Chicken with Leeks and Bacon. I did not have alot of chicken so I decided to add pasta to the meal.

I  cooking up some chopped bacon. I removed the bacon from the pan and wiped it out. Then I sauteed some leeks in olive oil and a knob of butter. I cut the chicken breasts into cubes and dredged the cubes in flour and thyme and added them to the saute pan. After the chicken began to brown I added some white wine and covered the pan until it was cooked through.

Meanwhile I am making the pasta. I use the recipe from Tide and Thyme. The pasta was perfect! I made only 1/2 into "rags" and cut the other half into fettuccine noodles and popped them in the freezer.

I boiled the pasta rags and when they were just al dente I added them to the pan with the leeks and chicken. I added a little butter to give it a nice glaze (did you get that Heidi?).  The bacon was sprinkled on top. A little cheese and crushed red pepper and that was dinner!

The pasta machine was my mother's. When I was putting it away I noticed the price tag! 

 My mom was an excellent shopper.

So what did we have for dinner a year ago?
Grilled Pork Chops

So what did we have for dinner 2 years ago?

Another sign of Fall - Chicken Pot Pie

So what did we have for dinner 3 years ago?

Autumn Minestrone Soup

Homemade Rough-Cut Pasta with Leeks

Has anyone seen the film Food Inc? It will make you rethink your trip to the grocery store.

Tonight's recipe came from La Cucina. Its crazy how the recipes in this book are pretty simple to make and the results are so good. Homemade Rough-Cut Pasta with Leeks, Maltagliati Di Porro, from the Piedmonte region. I have been trying different homemade pasta recipes. Tonight I tried Giada de Laurentiis's recipe. 3 cups flour, 4 eggs, 1 tbsp. salt and 1 tbsp. olive oil. Winner! Next time I will try the recipe in La Cucina. That one calls for olive oil and lard... I checked online and Crisco is good substitute for lard and there is a now a non-trans fat Crisco.

Anyway back to the recipe...

For the sauce:
2 tbsp. butter
4 leeks, cleaned and sliced in rounds
1/2 cup heavy cream
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Salt

Roll out pasta in a thin sheet (set machine to last setting) and cut in medium-size squares. (Note: Have plenty of space set aside to spread out dish towels sprinkled with flour to place your cut pasta).
Meanwhile, heat the butter in a pan over low heat. Saute the leeks until softened.
Cook the pasta in lightly salted boiling water.
Drain the pasta and add to the pan with the leeks. Stir in the cream, add the cheese and serve hot.

We had a nice bottle of Coppola 2006 Syrah-Shiraz. I could really taste the black cherry and strawberry. Just not sure what a currant tastes like.