On Monday I had some dry-cure, smoked streaky bacon left over from pot-roasting a pheasant on Sunday. Three pieces to be precise. There’s a favourite dish made by my friend Chris that is based on bacon and leek, that I had the honour of eating with him a few times when we lived together. It was always delicious. His is the inspiration for this extremely satisfying comfort food. I bought four baby leeks from the grocer to make this with, but normal leeks are fine – use 1 -2, depending on size. I chucked in some peas for freshness, though they are not necessary.
I ate this with my housemate Simon who claimed to enjoy it very much, before we went to a marvellous gig by experimental electronic musician Leafcutter John at PowerLunches in Dalston. He controlled all of the sounds using light with a device he had invented – it was magical: very pretty, not just weird-sounding, as might be imagined.
Served 2
Ingredients:
3 slices of smoked bacon – rind removed, and sliced into small pieces
4 baby leeks, well-cleaned and sliced into 1cm bits
handful of frozen peas (optional)
4-5 tablespoons, single cream
unsalted butter
a grating of whatever cheese you want for topping (I had some Gruyère leftover)
pasta – whichever sort you like – I think Penne is good for this
How I made it:
Place well-salted water on to boil for your pasta. Sweat leeks in butter in a heavy-bottomed frying pan. When they are soft, push to the side of the pan and add bacon to cook through. Put pasta on to boil and 5 mins before it’s ready, add peas to water. When bacon is cooked through, mix together with leeks and add cream. Season with salt and pepper. Mix with pasta and peas. Top with grated cheese.
Eaten with:
Cucumber salad.
Dinner Document 