Pesto Spaghetti with Apple, Bacon, and Summer Squash

 
image-asset.jpg

It's an apple season! I recently went to Trader Joe's for my version of city "apple-picking," and I got this big bag of apples for like less than $5. #YAS! I was looking for different ways to use apples in more creative ways, and it finally hit me. Let's add them in my pasta!

Feeling adventurous, I cubed sweet, crisp gala apples and tossed them together with my pasta. I was a little bit skeptical at first, but they were AMAZING! These apples added not only great crunchy textures but also sweet flavors to the dish. I turned up the volume by cooking vegetables with bacon fats (because everything is better with bacon!). When I had a big forkful of pasta with salty bacon and sweet apples, my mouth was burst out with crunchy, delicious flavors!

I made my homemade pesto with a blend of kale, basil, and arugula, but if you buy premade pesto, this dish can be done less than 20 minutes. It's a perfect way to combine a taste of fall with your favorite dish. SO YUMMY!

Prep time: 5 minutes  l  Cook Time:  15 minutes  l  Total Time: 20 minutes  l  Serving: 2

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 gala apple, cubed (can be replaced by any types of apples that sweet and crunchy like Honeycrisp or Fuji)

  • 2 strips of bacon, chopped

  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

  • 1/2 medium summer squash, sliced

  • 1/2 medium zucchini, sliced (I used two different kinds to make the dish more colorful, but it's okay to use just 1 zucchini.)

  • 1 teaspoon of salt

  • 1/2 teaspoon of pepper

  • 1/2 pound regular spaghetti

  • 1/4 cup of pasta water

  • 1/2 cup of pesto (either homemade, or store-bought)

DIRECTIONS

  1. Put cubed apple into a tossing bowl.

  2. In a skillet over medium-high heat, put chopped bacon and render the bacon fat. Cook them until they get crispy. Fish them out and set them aside separately from the chopped apple.

  3. Add garlic, summer squash, and zucchini into the bacon fat and sautée for 5 minutes until they are translucent. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper, and put them into a bowl with the cubed apple.

  4. Cook spaghetti as the package direction says. Reserve a little bit of pasta water and drain the pasta. Put it into the tossing bowl with the apple and sauteed vegetables.

  5. Add the reserved pasta water in the tossing bowl and stir everything with pesto.

  6. Top the dish with reserved crispy bacon.

 
James Park1 Comment