Snow Day and Pasta with Spinach and Raddichio

It snowed last night.

Just enough to make everything look like a winter wonderland but not enough to cancel school for the kidadults.

That makes today a snow day for me!

I'm going to take the morning off and take Holly Bear for a long stroll through the park. She loves the snow! The temperature seems to be just perfect for her and her fur coat.

Then I'm going to curl up with Michael Pollan's new book, "Food Rules". It is a slim novel full of common sense; things your grandmother knew about food. I think a healthy dose of common sense is good thing.

Happy Snow Day!

Pasta with Spinach and Raddichio: Serves 6

1 box whole wheat pasta of your choice

12 ounces fresh spinach, rinsed

1 head raddichio, peeled and torn into 2 inch pieces

6 ounces thick cut bacon (or pancetta or slab bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces)

2 tablespoons pine nuts

1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs

large pinch red pepper flakes

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

olive oil

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil. Cook the pasta according to package directions until it is al dente. Don't overcook, we're going to cook it again.

In a large saucepan, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Add the garlic to the pan with the bacon fat and saute for 1 minutes until fragrant. Add the breadcrumbs and pine nuts and stir and cook until the breadcrumbs are golden and the pine nuts are toasted. Add large pinch of red pepper flakes. Set aside.

Drain al dente pasta, reserving 1 cup cooking water.

Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to pan. Add pasta, spinach, radicchio and one cup pasta cooking water to pan. Saute over high heat until spinach and radicchio is wilted and heated through, about 2-3 minutes. Toss in half the bacon.

Turn out into large serving dish, toss in the breadcrumb mixture. Top with rest of bacon and sprinkle on the parmesan cheese.

A Cook's Notes: You can use any type of pasta you like, I used whole wheat spaghetti and everyone loved it! This dish would also be great with shredded chicken or no meat at all! Just substitute the bacon fat with olive oil - about 3 tablespoons!