Creamy Bacon & Peas Pasta

Creamy Bacon & Peas Pasta

1/2 lb. thin spaghetti

3 slices slivered frozen bacon

1/2 c. frozen peas

1 medium onion, diced

1 c. half & half

2 tsp. corn starch

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

salt & pepper to taste

     This dish was created for Katherine Birkle while I was her weekend caregiver in the beginning of 2017, when she celebrated her one hundred and second birthday!  It's always fun creating a menu from what you have on hand. In the pantry was a box of thin spaghetti, corn starch, garlic powder, salt, pepper and an onion, in the fridge half & half, and in the freezer a bag of frozen peas and portioned bacon.

     First, start boiling the water for the spaghetti.  Then in a 2 quart saucepan sauté 3 slices slivered frozen bacon over medium-high heat until it starts to brown, about 3-4 minutes. Then add a diced onion and sauté until onion is soft, about 2-3 minutes.  Remove excess bacon fat with a paper towel, if desired.  Next, measure 2 teaspoons of cornstarch into a cup and stir in 1/4 cup of cold half & half. Stir into bacon onion mixture.  It will thicken up immediately;  be sure to add more half & half until it gets to a saucy consistency.  As a final touch to the sauce add, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder with salt and pepper to taste.

     Boil less than  half the box of pasta until it's three-quarters cooked; then add a 1/2 cup of frozen peas. Drain when al dente or cooked to your taste and stir into sauce. Serve with salad and bread sticks.  Katherine Birkle absolutely loved this pasta dish and I hope you will, too!

"Time carries on!" Katherine Birkle - January 25, 2017 Born February 9, 1915 - College Point, New York  Katherine grew up on the same block that I did in College Point- Graham Court. We shared stories of swimming in the Flushing Bay growing up forty years apart. Katherine and her two sisters donned swimsuits and walked 50 yards to the cliff overlooking the bay, descending to the beach; then swimming out to the big black rock and sunbathing. My two sisters, Laura, Jayne and I only wet our feet and played in the sand with Mrs. (Zizi) Montalbano, our father's tenant,  in the early sixties but I remember having a great time. Once our maternal grandfather, Ruthland O. Davis found the three of us about to "set sail" in an abandoned row boat saving us from drowning! There are many more stories about Graham Court but that is for another time...to be continued. -Mimi, Mary Lillian Bradshaw Duncan