Bacon and red pepper pasta

I had 2 slices of bacon left over after I attempted my mother’s meat loaf recipe.

(I tried to coax the actual meat loaf recipe out of her this past weekend but she cannot remember it. I went so far as to go through her falling-apart Better Homes and Garden’s cookbook from 1917 or some-damn-other pre-my-existence era, and her massive collected recipe books—like wading through an insane loose leaf binder without the binder part, and I was not successful.) 

So anyway, back to the 2 slices of bacon. I made a simple and fabulously delicious pasta dish the recipe for which I came up with a quarter of a century ago. Dear god.

And while the pasta was utterly luscious, unctuous, and toothsome in every way, the real issue is that my house smelled like bacon for 2 days. I just cannot stand that. Nonetheless, recipe follows.

Red Pepper Pasta

per person roughly

1 slice bacon 

(Yes, I know, I used 2 and that’s 

because I had it for lunch the next day)

1/4 cup chopped roasted red pepper

1/2 cup diced tomatoes (canned)

(and juice, that’s jus for us French speakers)

3 TBS chopped black olives

(Greek marinated olives from Glorioso are the best)

3 TBS chopped onion

1 TB Frank’s hot sauce

2 TBS parmesan cheese, grated

Cook the bacon, then the onions, sauté until translucent, add every thing else except cheese

Toss with pasta, I used whatever that is up there but anything works 

and add some of the pasta water. Add the cheese and toss.

Then open your windows and get that smell out of there.