Visitors from out of town and the Pasta with No Name

As Her Imperial Majesty opines continuously, Raleigh is not the kind of place that anybody ever wants to visit. Oh, it's a nice enough place to live – great schools, moderate weather, reasonable taxes and governance – but it is not "A Destination".

New York City? Sure. San Francisco? Undoubtedly. Orlando? 'Natch. One could even lump Asheville or Wilmington unto a short list of places that friends from New York would stop by if they were passing through. But Raleigh? Fuhgeddaboutit.

But some situations are not hard fast and sometimes business comes a calling. Such was the case over the weekend when my brother-in-law Enrico came to town. He was here to work the Fly Fishing Show at the Fair Grounds. I picked him up at the airport and shuttled him around town on Friday afternoon, only to end up at the local Whole Foods. He asked what I wanted to eat for dinner. I said, "Chef, whatever looks good to you."

Before Enrico was titan of fly fishing world, he was a classically trained chef who grew up on the slopes of Mt. Etna. And when he cooks, its mind-bendingly good and astonishingly simple. Cucina rustica, I like to call it.

So we wandered a bit around the Whole Foods, seeing what looked good and what was merely okay. He strolled passed the fish and didn't notice it at all, stopping in front of the meat. About 20 seconds passed before he caught the attention of the butcher.

"Can I see what a pound of bacon looks like?" he asked.

"Sure" came the call from behind the counter. Enrico looked over at me.

"That looks like good bacon."

"Going to do a Carbonara?" I asked. He shook his head indicating the negative.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do".

He thought a minute, and headed down the canned veggie aisle, grabbing a can of diced tomatoes. Next, he stopped and picked up a box of whole wheat linguine. Then, he headed to produce to pick up a couple of red onions, with Her Imperial Majesty Junior following behind with the cart.

"Can you get some half and half. I'm going to pick out a salad." I immediately stopped what I was doing and blasted over to diary to get the half and half. When I arrived back, Chef was eyeballing the green leaf lettuce and the organic spinach.

"That is really green spinach. It's looking good to me". He smiled.

And that was the genesis of the Pasta with No Name.

Ingredients

• Three ounce olive oil for cooking
  
• Two large red onions, peeled and diced
  
• One 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes
  
• One pound of good bacon, thick cut, and diced
  
• Eight ounces half and half
  
• ¼ cup of white wine
  
• 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme
  
• One pound whole wheat pasta
  
• Parmesan Cheese
  
• Salt and pepper to taste
  

Technique

• Add olive to deep four quart dutch oven
  
• Add diced onions and a bit of salt to make them sweat. Cooked on high heat covered for about five minutes
  
• Add the bacon and cook for another five minutes
  
• De-glaze with the white wine
  
• Add the can of tomatoes and cook for another ten minutes
  
• Add thyme and cook another ten minutes
  
• Add the half and half and reduce and stir until thickened.
  
• Toss with al dente pasta and Parmesan Cheese. Serve with a green salad.
  

Simple, quick and delicious. Bon Appétit!