Everything Is Better With Bacon

Yesterday I posted about my introduction into the world of aging meats, with Chef Justin Brunson. Brunson Meat Company What I didn’t tell you is that Justin also makes his own bacon too. I came home with a couple different types of Justin’s bacon, and of course I was very eager to try it out. Because of course, we all know, EVERYTHING is better with bacon, and it’s exceptional with really, really good bacon too. 🙂

Originally I was planning on doing bacon wrapped shrimp and serving it over pasta, but the weather was a bit too nippy for me to go out and grill my shrimp. So instead, I just made it more like a carbonara/Alfredo style shrimp and bacon pasta dish. I am a big fan of peppered bacon, so I used the pepper bacon for my dish. OMG!!!! WOW!!!! The flavor of Brunson Meat CO bacon was phenomenal! The flavor just popped and made the whole dish really come to life like never before. It’s always been really good, but this time, it was exceptional!

You have seen many versions of this shrimp and pasta dish before on my blog posts. Obviously, shrimp and pasta with a creamy Alfredo or carbonara sauce is a favorite of mine. I always make it a little different too, depending on what I have on hand at the time. This time I added mushrooms, shallots, garlic, peas, tomatoes and Peruvian peppers to the mix.

First, I cooked the bacon, garlic and shallots in olive oil.

Then I added the peas and mushrooms.

Once the vegetable mixture was cooked, I removed them from the heat, then cooked my shrimp.

After the shrimp was cooked and removed, I made my Alfredo sauce, starting with a dry white wine to deglaze my pan, then adding my heavy whipping cream and Mozzarella cheese, salt & fresh ground black pepper, and finishing it off with butter.

I re-added both the vegetable mixture and shrimp and incorporated it all into the sauce, adding just a little drizzle of lemon juice, then served it up over angel hair pasta.

Because I LOVE my breads, and still had some of my potato focaccia left, Potato Focaccia I warmed that up and added it to the meal, with a cool, crisp Pinot Grigio on the side. I didn’t give an actual recipe this time, because as I said, you have seen many different versions of this dish before. But I wanted to highlight just how much better the dish was by using really good, high quality bacon, such as the bacon from Brunson Meat Co. Quality really does matter, and you can definitely taste the difference too. I have always said that, and this is how I have always cooked, but this time I raised the bar considerably, and all by just adding a better quality bacon to the mix. 🙂

Thank you once again Justin, for a fantastic day of learning all kinds of new things, and for the fabulous steak and bacon. What a delightful treat. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well, and stay warm if you live in cold country. ‘Til next time.