I (Ann) am writing to you from a hotel in Pasadena, where my parents are sleeping as I attempt to quietly click away at the keyboard. They’re visiting this week for the first time since I moved to California five years ago. We’ve had several conversations about childhood, and they even brought some treats from my hometown bakery, a small establishment in a Minnesota town of 4,000 people, which has been run by the same family for three generations. The treats are actually called Crispies, but we call them Elephant Ears because of their round, flat shape. Mom brought a couple to give to Boyfriend upon their first meeting over breakfast a few days ago. Later he texted me, “These ears are good!” and I replied,”Aren’t they? That’s one of the tastes of my childhood.”
There’s something about foods from our childhoods. As I’ve been working toward a more healthy perspective on eating, I’ve realized there are comfort foods that I’m just not willing to give up. Certain flavors, textures, and combinations inspire an emotional reaction in me — the peace of tasting something familiar nourishes the emotions, even if it doesn’t really nourish the body with nutrients. And that’s okay — as long as I’m getting proper nutrition, I can still eat some of the things I crave, but in moderation. I’m also learning how to take the idea of these foods and elevate them slightly to create new, fresher variations with the same hearty goodness.
After a long day of sight-seeing with my parents, I wanted to make something that was both delicious and comforting — and I found this recipe. Mom helped me cook it. Some of the best memories are made over the preparation and consumption of food. It reminded me of baking cookies with her as a little girl, and how she taught me about so many things through that process: creativity, ingenuity, resourcefulness, and plain old fractions. This recipe isn’t healthy by the classic definition, but it’s soulful. It offers a variety of flavors in every bite.
CHEDDAR BACON RANCH CHICKEN PASTA
- 1 pound mostaccioli or other short pasta
- 6 strips of bacon, diced
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 packet of ranch dressing mix
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
Nothing fancy here — just your standard ingredients. I actually already had most of these on-hand and only had to pick up a few things. I took my parents to the grocery store with me, and we had a hard time finding the bacon in the store just down the street from my house. Dad said, “They ought to have a display front and center in the store of bacon and only bacon. It makes everything better.”
The recipe says to start by cooking the pasta according to the box instructions, in a large pot of water. In retrospect, I wish I would have waited until after the bacon and chicken started cooking, because the pasta was a little too cold by the end of the other processes. You could start boiling the water, though.
While the water heats up, shred one cup of cheddar cheese, unless you already have the shredded kind. I usually buy the block cheese, because I like to have the option of biting chunks of it right off the block. Mmmm… cheese.
It looks like his fur.
Next fry up the bacon. It’s difficult to select good bacon from packaged bacon. If you’ll notice in the first picture, the way that it’s packaged prevents you from seeing the surface of the bacon, where you can determine how much meat and how much fat is in it. If you’d like to be more selective in your choice, you can purchase good bacon at the meat counter in your grocery store. I was in a hurry, so I just grabbed the cheap kind. It’s mostly there for salty flavor and a bit of texture anyway. I cut the strips in half, so they would cook evenly in the pan.
Next cube the raw chicken. You always want to use a plastic or glass cutting board for this — never wood. Wood cutting boards can soak up the juices and keep them, which means you’re at risk of spreading salmonella into other foods if you use the cutting board afterward for something else. Plastic or glass are easier to clean well.
You can make the chicken cubes just about any size you’d like them — just make sure they’re consistently sized. If you make some big and some small, they’ll cook at different rates, and we want them all to cook well in the same pan, at the same rate. Set that aside until the bacon is finished.
Your bacon should be sizzling now, and it should shrink to about half the size of the raw bacon. When it’s finished, with darker red and brown tones, remove it from the pan and place it on a paper towel to soak up some of the grease. I should also note here that I used 3 strips instead of 6. I wanted to reduce the fat content in the recipe just a little. I still used the same amount of grease.
Remove all but one tablespoon of the grease. You never, ever want to dump bacon grease down the drain of your sink. The grease will solidify and could clog your pipes. Instead, pour it into a cup and throw it in the trash once it’s solid.
Add your one tablespoon of butter to the bacon grease.
Carefully add the chicken.
Cover that and let it cook.
Now is a good time to cook up that pasta. If you have someone cooking with you, that person can also chop up the cooked bacon.
I like my pasta al dente, which means that it’s not mushy. You remove it from the heat and drain the water while it’s still just a bit chewy.
I usually pull a few noodles out at different points during the cooking process and test it. If the texture tastes good to me, I go with that.
While the pasta is cooking, check on your chicken. It should be getting white around the edges. Move it around and flip it a little to cook the other side.
When your pasta has cooked to a texture you like, drain it immediately.
I returned it to the pot and covered it to keep it warm.
Once the chicken is cooked and slightly browned, add in these delightful things:
The ranch will thicken after it heats with the milk, and it will create a lovely sauce. Add in the cheese last, once the sauce is bubbly and thickened.
Finally, add in half the chopped bacon. Keep the other half for a garnish.
Add the sauce to the noodles, and mix it good.
Add the bacon to the top, and serve with something light, like a small salad. This recipe was a hit, and I had plenty left over for lunches this coming week.
You can check out the full recipe here.
