Shopping Around the World

Thanks to everyone for another great edition of Shopping Around the World last month.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices around the world – and the pictures with recipes!

This month we have a suggestion from my brother Easy.  This month we are highlighting PASTA – what is your favorite PASTA dish?  How do you make it?  What kind of noodles do you use?  What is in your PASTA?  There is no limit count on ingredients – Share your recipe and picture!

I’m going to let mom take care of this recipe this month – she mumbled something to me about not being around while she cooked it.  So we all know what that means.  It must contain P.O.R.K.  Snorts with piggy laughter – take it away mom.

---

One of our favorite pasta dishes to make here at the Hotel Thompson involves Cavatappi pasta – which translated from Italian means corkscrew.  As you can see by looking at the shape of the pasta – it does have the twisted look.

So we take a box of Cavatappi and put it on to boil in a pan (a box of Cavatappi is $1.00 for the entire box and that’s a lot of food!).  In doing this so we add salt to the water and a little oil so the pasta doesn’t stick.  Now some peeps will argue about the oil and the salt – you do what you think is best.  Here I prefer to do this.  While the pasta is boiling, you are going to fix the base of the pasta.

In a skillet you are going to add some thick cut chunked pancetta – which is an Italian bacon made from the pork belly that is salt cured and seasoned.  If you don’t have pancetta, regular chopped up bacon or chunks of leftover ham will do.  Cook it until brown.  (Pancetta can be a little pricey – we always keep some in the freezer.  We usually will get two pounds at a time at $10.99 per pound.  For this recipe, we will use an entire pound – $10.99)

When finished, add some chopped tomatoes, pepper, a few pepper flakes and oregano (or any other seasonings you want) to the party.  (Seasonings are something we usually keep on hand and tomatoes run us $0.99 a pound – a pound for this recipe).  Let this all marry together and by this time, your pasta should be al dente.  Drain your pasta and add it straight to your skillet.  Mix all of these ingredients together and let simmer for about 5 minutes.  Right before serving, top with freshly grated parmasean cheese (we also keep this on hand and it ranges $4.99 for a pound – use as much as you want)

Total cost for the meal is around $14.00 and this meal will last us several nights for the two of us.  In the long run, the price far outweighs the servings.