Pasta With Shellfish, Bacon, & Asparagus

Pasta with Shellfish, Bacon, & Asparagus

This is very good and very easy to make. You can use just about any shellfish or mixture of shellfish you want. Shrimp, crawfish, scallops, and crab work well but I haven't tried clams and I'm pretty sure oysters won't work well. The picture above is with penne pasta and rock shrimp. Linguine, angel hair, or penne pasta work equally well in this dish.

1 lb	cooked, peeled, and deveined, shellfish of your choosing
1 lb	pasta of your choosing
6 slices	thick cut bacon
1	medium onion, diced
4	cloves garlic, minced
¼ tsp	Tabasco® habanero pepper sauce
½ cup	white wine of your choosing
1 cup	whipping cream
¼ cup	chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tbl	butter
1 tbl	lemon juice
1 to 1½ cups	cooked fresh asparagus cut or broken into 1½" pieces
	fresh ground black pepper
	salt

Start a large pot of water for the pasta over high heat.

Heat a large, deep non-stick frying pan over medium heat, add the bacon to the frying pan, and cook until it is crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan, let it drain on paper towels, and break it into small pieces. Save about half of the bacon grease.

About this time the water in the pasta pot should have come to a boil. Add the pasta to the water and cook until it is done.

While the pasta cooks, add the onion, garlic, and Tabasco to the bacon grease and cook over medium heat until the onions are clear and soft. Add the wine and deglaze the pan. Let the wine come to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Add the cream, let it come to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook until it thickens a bit. You can tell when the cream mixture is done when it just barely starts to turn to a light golden color.

The pasta should be cooked now. Drain it but save a ¼ cup of the pasta water. Turn the heat to the frying pan to low and add the pasta and pasta water to the frying pan with the onion, garlic, cream mixture. Stir until everything is mixed well and the pasta is well coated. Add the bacon, parsley, butter, and lemon juice and stir well. Add the shellfish and asparagus, season with salt and pepper, and stir until everything is combined, the butter is melted, and the shellfish and asparagus are heated. Add some pasta water if the dish seems a little dry. Serve.

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