Hi. This post is essentially “other things you can do with leftover pasta” Part 2. (Part 1 here.) Besides scrambled eggs or grilled cheese, this is one of my lazy, go-to dinners. It can be made at two speeds: fast or ultra fast (ultra fast if you’re using leftover pasta, in which case it is a one-pan meal).
We have in this pan all the essentials for happy forkfuls: pasta, salty cheese and bacon, jammy tomatoes and shallots, and greens to appeal to virtue (but not TOO many–we’re not saints).
Rustic, humble, low maintenance, and vaguely familiar, the whole ensemble reminds me of Noodles & Company mashed with Mongolian BBQ. Just need to get Jim on board with a giant Mongolian flat top grill the size of our kitchen island.
Now, FYI it’s not an extremely saucy pasta; you cook bacon, remove the bacon from the pan, cook tomatoes and shallots in the bacon fat with a splash of red wine vinegar, and when it’s jammy, you add in the (already cooked) pasta, spinach/kale, crumble the bacon back in, and top with feta. But you know? I grew up eating noodles with butter and cheese. This is kind of like that. Familiar. Cozy.
If you’re going out of your way to make pasta for this dish, I’d definitely reserve a half cup of pasta water and add it to the tomatoes and shallots. Pasta water has nice starches in it that thicken into a sauce when reduced.
But honestly, it’s fine without it, and (A) I like getting rid of leftover grains/starches, especially when they are disproportionate to the amount of chicken or whatever that is also leftover and (B) cooking pasta and/or chicken in bulk at the beginning of the week opens up the doors for lots of culinary options.
In other words, you don’t have to eat the same thing every day for dinner, leftovers after leftovers. Southwest pasta salad today is jammy tomato rotini tomorrow!
Rustic Shallot and Tomato Rotini with Bacon and Feta
Equipment
- Cast iron skillet
Ingredients
- 4 slices Bacon
- 2 Shallots sliced thinly
- 1 cup Cherry tomatoes quartered
- 1 tsp Red wine vinegar
- 2 cups Pasta cooked
- 1 tbsp Butter salted
- 2 cups Baby kale or spinach
- ¼ cup Feta cheese crumbled
Instructions
- Fry bacon in a cast iron skillet on medium heat. When fully cooked, remove from skillet and set aside on a plate.
- In the same pan, undrained of the grease, toss in the tomatoes and shallots and pour vinegar over. Stir constantly until tomatoes soften and become tender, about 5 minutes.
- Add the cooked pasta and butter to the skillet with the tomatoes and shallots. Toss to combine. Cook another 2 minutes. Add in kale or spinach, stirring to facilitate the wilt, about another minute.
- Remove from heat. Split between two pasta bowls. Top with feta and serve.
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