What's Cooking Wednesday: Spaghetti-os for Grown-ups: An Uber-Frugal Farmers Market Dinner

Please go to The Fairy Blogmother for more What's Cooking Wednesday participants.

Okay, so my title had everything to do with how many hyphens I could fit into one sentence.

But it also had a lot to do with the Michigan economy, cutting back, and eating local. Oh, and the dinner itself was delicious.

So here's what I had to start with:


In case my photography isn't crystal clear (and when is it?), this is a picture of lovely Farmers Market radishes and baby yellow squash and the end of some almost-done garlic. I also had a bag of $.99 anelletti and some grated Parmigiano Reggiano from Trader Joe's. Oh and, as always, olive oil.

And bacon. Mmmmmmm.... bacon.

Truly, though, this was it, and here's how the cash flow broke down:

1/2 box of organic baby yellow squash from Frog Holler: $1.50
3 radishes from bunch of 12 $ .37
three pieces of bacon from Ernst Farm: $1.00
1/4 bag of anelletti: $ .25
1/7 tub of parmigiano reggiano $ .71
3 cloves garlic, pinch sea salt, 1 TBS olive oil $ .20 (approx.)
Grand total....... $4.03
Divided by 2 (serves 2) $2.02/serving

And filling... did I mention filling? It also sends me back to my childhood, because this dish combines the taste of bacon/mac and cheese with the texture of those little round things that came in the can with tomato sauce, and it manages to be mostly veggies, so - win-win, right?

Oh. Yeah.

Here is the finished product:






Added bonus? 20 minutes to prep and cook, start to finish. I kid you not. Oh, Jen is feeling pleased with herself tonight.






Spaghetti-os for Grown-ups

Ingredients:

3 large radishes, cut in half and sliced thin
3 baby summer squash, sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
3 pieces of bacon
about 1 TBS olive oil
a pinch of kosher salt (or any favorite salt)
parmesan to taste (I used a TBS, D used about 3 TBS) - I recommend splurging for real parmigiano reggiano because it tastes so much better and with this little, it's not going to break your budget.
1/4 package of pasta of choice (but can't really be spaghetti-os without anelletti, which are little round "o's" of pasta)

Directions:

1. Put water on to boil. Prep veggies. Heat olive oil in pan at medium heat.
NOTE: Bacon can be done two ways - you can chop it up and put it in with the veggies and use FAR less olive oil, or you can place it between two sheets of paper toweling and microwave it, 1 1/2 minutes on each side (the second method is less eco-friendly, but probably healthier in terms of removing saturated fat, etc.). I used the second method. If you do the first method, chop your bacon, too. If you use the second method, just set up your bacon and wait for a later step.
2. When water is boiling pour in pasta and set timer. It will take 13 minutes to cook the pasta, give or take. Put garlic and radishes in pan to saute. (And add the bacon, too, if you're going to put it in the pan with the veggies).
3. After about a minute, add in the baby summer squash slices to the saute and put the bacon in the microwave (and cook it, as described above).
4. Stir veggies from time to time, and stir the pasta, so it doesn't stick to your pasta pot (the anelletti do tend to stick).
5. When the timer sounds, drain the pasta and rinse with cold water. Turn off the saute pan (the veggies should be a lovely, caramelized brown). Take the bacon out of the microwave and crumble it. (If you cooked the bacon in with the veggies, then drain the pan of oil before adding everything together in the next step).
6. Toss all ingredients together in a large pasta bowl and sprinkle with a dash of salt.
7. Serve with parmesan to taste.

Nutritional Info

* Servings Per Recipe: 2
* Amount Per Serving
* Calories: 289.1

* Total Fat: 10.5 g
* Cholesterol: 12.0 mg
* Sodium: 257.1 mg
* Total Carbs: 37.1 g
* Dietary Fiber: 4.2 g
* Protein: 12.4 g

As always, nutrition info supplied by the recipe calculator function at Sparkrecipes.com.

Enjoy! More radical radish adventures next week.