Heineken Pasta

This recipe is another one that I learned from the master, Raffaele Montella. Daniele and I regularly use wine in our pasta sauces, but I never would have thought to use beer as the base for a sauce without the input from the cooking genius, Raffaele Montella (native of Naples, Italy).

Raffaele and I lived together in the International House of Chicago, and nearly every evening he would develop a new dish to share with residents of the house. I often served as his sidekick, assisting with cutting vegetables, stirring sauces, and most importantly: doing the dishes. During that time, this is a recipe would request him to make quite often.

Just as an aside, I not only want to share this recipe below in this blog entry, but also the fact that I leave tomorrow to spend a few days with my best friend in New York City. You might see a blog update while I am there, but don't be surprised if there are no new updates for the next four days. But, be looking for some New York style food updates when I return, and possibly some Amanda and Laura cooking adventures!

The Heineken Pasta recipe I am sharing below is slightly different than the authentic Montella recipe. Raffaele also adds one or two spoons of BBQ sauce to his version to enhance the flavor. He also ONLY uses onion and bacon. I have added a few vegetables to the recipe which I had laying around the house. Here is my version:

Heineken Pasta
4 strips bacon
1/2 medium white onion
asparagus
tomato
1 can Heineken
olive oil
Parmesan cheese
tagliatelle (egg pasta)

Begin by slicing the onion into small pieces. Heat up some olive oil in a pan, and add the onion. While the onion is cooking, slice a few (5-10) stalks of asparagus and a tomato. Also cut the bacon into small pieces. After the onion is cooking for a few moments, add the asparagus and bacon to the recipe. Add a couple spoonfuls of Heineken, but not too much, to ensure the bacon cooks thoroughly.

While the bacon is cooking, you should start boiling some water in order to cook the Tagiatelle.

After the bacon is cooked, add the tomato and also between half and a full can of Heineken to create the sauce. Let some of the liquid evaporate and cook for at least 10 minutes on a low heat so that the taste folds into the vegetables and bacon.

When the sauce is almost finished, add the Tagiatelle to the boiling water and cook per instructions on the box. Mix the pasta and sauce together. Serve with Parmesan.