Tagliatelle with saffron, bacon and peas
What I sometimes like to do and I am sure I have told this before, but o well, I am getting old so then it is allowed to repeat onces self (within reason ofcourse..lol) 🙂 When I need to work in the studio I sometimes decide I want to prepare a nice lunch; first to eat it ofcourse, but also so I can take photos and try some settings while I am at it. And I always love a good pasta for lunch. The “lunch culture” in Holland is very much of the boring sandwiches kind of lunch, although obviously you can spice any sandwich up to looks something like this or this... Just let your imagination run wild. But having pasta for lunch; I don’t know… it makes me feel good and I just loooooove pasta to bits. So I was browsing the internet this morning for ideas on what to make for lunch that would taste good, have mascarpone in it and look good (yes, yes, I know it’s rather pathetic to pick dishes out because they have a potential to look good..) and I stumbled upon this gorgeous dish on the Good Food website. I have changed it slightly as the original called for angel hair pasta and I just do not like angel hair pasta. It’s too…. angel like..
It also reminded me of one of the first pasta dishes I did that completely looked like the worst pasta dish ever!! In fact it was so bad that I deleted the photos… and I never delete photos that are technically correct. And on top of that I switched blogs and the original photos in the original post that I wrote about this disaster were also gone… So I can’t really show you how far I have come since then. Anyway… just believe me when I say that this looks much much better…! I did learn some stuff about foodstyling in the process… 🙂 But I just decided I will cook that recipe again soon… I just have to do better! (update; I just found the photos again which had been misplaced. I reuploaded them in the post from last year but you will be able to see a before and after if I redo this dish!)
So, here I am, in the studio frying some bacon in the pan and it’s a good thing I do not have a smoke alarm there or it would have gone completely crazy! I don’t have a proper stove in the studio so I cook on those little portable burners which work fine most of the time but I also don’t have a ventilationsystem so I have to rely on the open window, which did not work very well… Man, there was some serious smoke forming! It’s a good thing my customer came hours later or they would have called the fire department upon entering the building! (well, ok I do like to exaggerate a little from time to time)
Thankfully the open window did help in getting rid of most of the smoke soon, so no harm done… As for the pasta; it’s another one of those great recipes which you can adjust to your liking. I loved it and I got to use some of my leftover mascarpone (which you will find out all about on saturday!) I only forgot to bring my parmezan cheese so I had it without, which was also good, but definitely would be even better with some nicely grated parmesan on top! Btw; did you also notice a lot of peas in my meals lately? I just notice it myself all of a sudden… 🙂
Tagliatelle with saffron, bacon and peas
Ingredients
- 100 gr tagliatelle
- basil chopped to serve
- freshly grated parmesan
- ew slices of bacon
- 1 pinch of saffron
- olive oil
- 1 garlic clove
- 200 ml of white wine
- 2 tbsp of mascarpone
- 1 lemon zested
- 150 gr frozen peas defrosted
Instructions
- In a non stick frying pan (preferably a deep one) heat the olive oil and cook the garlic and the bacon until golden. Crush the saffron in a small bowl and add 1 tbsp of boiling water. Allow to sit for 1 minute and then add to the pan. Pour in the wine and season well.
- Reduce by half and then add the mascarpone, lemon and peas and heat through. Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain well and add to the pan with the sauce. Serve with basil and grate some fresh parmesan on top.
- And did you notice how incredibly quick this is?? The taste was surprisingly good. Better then I even had imagined it to be...
Disclaimer
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
I am sending this dish in for Presto Pasta Nights #152 (which is my first time, can you believe it??) which is hosted by Michelle of Italian Mama Chef this week!
LOL.. Not pathetic at all to cook to look good ;-))) .. My hub has been accusing me of doing the same thing too..LOL..
Lovely pasta dish…amazing that it doesnt look creamy given the mascarpone. which is a good thing coz that soo good and soo healthy!!
Btw, I don’t like anger hair pasta too! I bought a pack recently, coz I was curious and now, I am trying to find someone to palm the rest of it too.. It’s tooo fine for my taste! 🙂
I love the color from the saffron! It looks great with the peas. The lemon and mascarpone sound delicious in this.
Looks divine Simone. I’ve never thought to use saffron in pasta. Peas are the best!
Gorgeous! The way you lit this scene, the peas seem to positively glow!
Looks very good and what a great way to use the extra mascarpone.
Mimi
Angel hair pasta is so angel like? LOL! I love how this pasta looks. Bacon and saffron, you are killing me here, this must’ve been one hell of a lunch. If I could only have lunches like that every day 😀
What a delicious pasta! I love all the flavors especially mascarpone. I’ve been using peas more often lately too. I have a new love for them.
I choose what to make for dinner based on looks all the time! I often think: “Hmmm, my stack of blog recipes and photos is starting to get a little thin – time to make something pretty!” I think we all do it…
But this does look nice! I love the colour the saffron adds!
This looks wonderful. Isn’t saffron the best! Pasta is one of my favorite lunches–so satisfying and fun to eat, no matter what the ingredients. No knife required…
I am a big fan of pasta for lunch, as it is a bit heavy for me for dinner (and in Greece we eat late, 9-1pm). I love sandwiches too and I found that in Amsterdam there are many great sandwich shops with a good variety of fillings.
I loooove pasta too! So simple and so satisfying.
THis looks positively fabulous, and it’s making me seriously hungry. The earthiness of the saffron next to the sweetness of the peas. Doesn’t get much better than that!
Simone, this looks delicious. This is our favorite kind of meal–pasta and a sauce that can be made in the time it takes the pasta to cook. YUM!
I love the photos too–especially the light coming through that little leaf on top. Have you done any posts on food styling? Would you consider it? I think you have cracked the code…
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Beautiful pasta… those colors are amazing… and the recipe is easy. HOw good is that!
Thre brilliant colour of the pasta could only be from egg yolks and saffron…just stunning.
The noodles look so gorgeous with their vibrant colour! Such a simple dish but still very elegant!
Simone – I hate to say this but I had a look at your first picture (on the other site just now) and I thought to myself – well, Simone is actually human too! hehe… the new and improved tagliatelle is just amazing – reminds me of something I could see in a food magazine – it is just so darn pretty!
Haha… yes, that pasta looks seriously horrible doesn’t it?? I will be making it again though!
Your posts always make me laugh! I want to come spend a week and cook with you every day cause I think it would be a blast! You sound too funny and adorable in the kitchen (and studio)! This is one great pasta dish and I may snag this recipe to make for JP and I. Love the saffron and yum mascarpone.
great blog you’ve got here.
great blog you’ve got here.