God Rest Ye

After decorating the front door for the holidays, an enjoyable chore but tiring with lots of trips up and down a ladder, I lay down for a nap. Truth be told, I have a nap almost every day now that I'm retired, and I highly recommend them. Just 20 or 30 minutes is enough to give me energy for the rest of the day and evening. Cultures that encourage siesta are cultures we Americans need to embrace. Rather than check our email one more time, we should lie down, toes covered with a blanket, and zone off for a nice nap.

When I opened my eyes, however, it was to the memory that I had not taken anything out of the freezer for dinner. Oh, s**t!  After I finished saying dirty words, I lay there thinking about whether to call for Chinese food or a pizza (again), but then I remembered that I had four rashers of bacon in the fridge. Surely I could make dinner with that!  The longer I lay there, the more ingredients I thought of, and this pasta dish is the result.

We love the wide pappardelle noodles, so I started them to boiling while the bacon cooked. I didn't fry it to crispness, just to golden brown. In a wide frying pan, I then gently sautéed a clove or two of crushed garlic in a little butter before adding frozen peas with pearl onions until they were bright green. A tin of Dungeness crab followed, just heated through, before dumping in the pappardelle to stir with the juices in the bottom of the pan and the bacon, chopped into bits.

Served with ParmReg at the table and green beans on the plate, it was one of those quick, amazing preparations that sometimes occur to you when you are refreshed from a good nap.  

God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen, and Happy Holidays.