I am always on the hunt for something new to field my children. There are caveats to my hunt, mainly, it has to be easy. My family is a busy family. Anyone who has followed my blog or social media sites for the past 15 years will know that. Our busy schedule means I need to prepare, cook, and place a meal on the table either before soccer practice or late at night after practice.
Being a soccer dad isn’t for the faint of heart. It means rushing constantly. My 11-year-old son plays on two soccer teams and has practice or a game 6 days a week. My 8-year-old daughter also plays soccer. My 17-year-old daughter doesn’t play soccer, but I need to prepare something she’ll enjoy or she might grab some fast food sometime later in the evening. A couple of years ago, when my oldest son was home before joining the Army, he had a crazy soccer schedule as well. Soccer has always dominated our lives.
Usually when I post recipes, I complain the ingredients should be at the top because nobody cares about the story. So forgive me for being a hypocrite. Since I’ve added that disclaimer, let’s finally jump into what I made
I received a “pasta sampler” for this story.
Click here to purchase your “Pasta of the Month Club.”
I tried several Sfoglini products over a month and my favorite is the Saffron Malloreddus. This pasta is made with organic durum semolina and has a nice consistency. The reason my family and I love this one the most is that it’s not on our usual list of pastas. We eat a lot of pasta in my house, but I’ve never made anything resembling the Saffron Malloreddus. It will be a go-to meal in the future.
The time from stovetop to table was under 35 minutes, making this meal perfect for my busy lifestyle.
Here we go:
Ingredients:
1 box (16 ounces) of Sfoglini Saffron Malloreddus
Salt
Sauce:
3 strips of thick bacon, cut into pieces
½ cup of butter
3 tablespoons of minced garlic
¼ cup of fresh parmesan cheese
Ground pepper
Oregeno
Onion Powder
Basil
2 handfuls of baby spinach
Directions:
- Prepare the ingredients. Cut bacon into pieces. Set out all ingredients at the ready to be used.
- Add 4 quarts of water into a pot and turn burner to high. Add salt.
- Add bacon to a frying pan, stirring occasionally.
- Add butter to pan and let melt.
- Once the butter is melted, add the minced garlic. Once it sizzles, lower the heat.
- Once water is boiling, add pasta.
- Remove bacon from pan and drain the grease.
- Add oregano, ground pepper, basil, and onion powder to sauce. Stir.
- Add bacon and stir
- After 10 to 13 minutes of cooking pasta, take out a ¼ cup of the water and drain pasta.
- Add the water to the sauce and stir.
- Combine pasta and sauce together in the pan and stir.
- Add parmesan cheese to the pan and stir.
- Serve and enjoy.
(I usually eyeball ingredients. For the oregano, onion powder, and pepper, use your own judgement.)
Other Options:
- I rarely add much salt to a dish because I’m trying to cut back on the amount of salt. Therefore, my palate doesn’t enjoy a salty taste. For my liking, the bacon has enough salt in this meal. If you like to add salt, by all means shake away.
- I thought I had an onion prior to cooking, but I was out. This dish is great to chop up an onion and cook with the bacon. If you don’t have an onion or don’t like onions, use onion powder.
- I should have added more water to the pot to boil. The pasta still turned out great, but next time I’m adding a bit more water.
- I used a lot of butter for this dish. For future meals, I’ll use a 1/3 cup of butter. If you love butter, then go ahead with what was originally in this dish.
- Peas are also great with this dish if you want something else instead of spinach.
I hope you try and enjoy. If you do, please come back and share how you used Sfoglini Pasta.
@onegooddad From stovetop to table in under 35 minutes. I made a delicious meal with Sfoglini Pasta. #cooking #cook #pasta #ad #foodie #food #meal #fy #fyp #foryou #dadlife #dadsinthekitchen #dads #cookingathometiktoktv
♬ Happy cover song “Tea for Two” 3(1174831) – mikiyo conjunction
*Disclaimer, I partnered with Sfoglini Pasta for this story. The links are affiliate links. The recipe and story are my own.