The rest of the Doristas rang in the New Year with this dish, but I’m only getting to it now. I didn’t fancy the idea of simmering gluten-free pasta in broth for twenty minutes or more, so I waited until I had an opportunity to make this for my parents. Even then, I had to modify the recipe – their reaction to heavy cream and mascarpone in the sauce was, “Are you trying to kill us?” I substituted milk and Greek yogurt instead. I stood firm on the Parmesan, though. My less-likely-to-kill-my-parents version worked out beautifully. It didn’t have the creamy ooziness of the original, but the flavour was there, especially because I added bacon to the mix. (This really couldn’t be called a light version, could it? Oh, well.) I used a little of the bacon fat to sauté the onions, then added the chopped bacon to the pasta at the end.
I loved the method for this pasta. Simmering the macaroni in broth adds so much flavour and it’s nice to be able to get on with other things in the kitchen while it’s slowly absorbing the liquid. The milk and yogurt dressing didn’t look as creamy, but it tasted creamy and I enjoyed the lightness with which the sauce coated the pasta. Which is not to say that I’m not looking forward to trying the full version some time. I’ll just save it for a fancier occasion than a weeknight dinner. Besides, I like knowing that I can make a delicious version of decadent dishes with the sort of dairy that I generally have on hand.
If you want to try the full fat version (and then come back here to tell me what I’m missing), you can find the recipe here.
To see what the rest of the French Fridays crowd got up to this week, follow the link to Moules Marinière. Now that I’ve caught up on the first recipe of the month, I need to tackle this one – I’ve been looking forward to it for quite some time.
You can find many other blogged descriptions of this FFWD recipe here: Dressy Pasta “Risotto”
One Wet Foot 
I like how you took out the cream but simmered onions in bacon fat for a healthier version. You should be my diet counselor.
I’ll take that on, Trevor. You’ll be round, but happy.
Sounds delicious with the bacon. I’ll be honeys, I’ve made this a few times with different tweaks based on what I had. The original was delicious as the main for New Year’s Eve though. Glad your folks enjoyed it. I agree, fun method to learn. And yours looks delish!
It really was delicious, though I’m looking forward to trying the original some time!
Make me understand how adding bacon and simmering the onions in bacon fat but cutting out some cream doesn’t add up to equally-killing-off-your-parents rather than “less”. I would call this a Canadian way of reasoning. In Iowa, where I grew up, we would keep the cream and use the bacon fat and just call it making dinner better!!! To me, this was just a very over-the-top mac&cheese. I enjoyed it but it was rich.
Pretty sure that what happened wasn’t related to my nationality. I started with the best intentions, then noticed the bacon in the fridge.
Your version looks great and I agree with Trevor – LOL re the bacon fat simmered onions!
Thanks, Mardi! I just couldn’t help myself…
That looks great! I liked this method of cooking pasta too, and it is good to know it works with dairy products other than the cream and mascarpone (though those were wonderfully decandant!).