COWBOY SPAGHETTI & 2022 BODEGA A NOEMĺA MALBEC

This recipe is from Allrecipes which hooked me with this intro: “Everyone will love this cowboy spaghetti, a fun twist with bacon, cheese and pasta in a spicy beef and tomato sauce.  The best part is that it’s a one-dish meal, cooked in a cast iron skillet.”   It has a Bolognese-y feel, but less elaborate than my Bolognese recipe in cooking steps, some different spices and far less cook time. Further I switched out spaghetti for fusilli.  OK, Picasso had his “blue period” – I am in my “fusilli period”. I love the screw-like cylinder shape of this pasta.  Fusilli clings to sauces beautifully and it doesn’t require twirling pasta on a fork (with or without the aid of a spoon)… simply stab two or three cylinders with your fork and scoop up some sauce on your way to your mouth.  Then say, “Eeeeee –hah!”  And that’s about as cowboy as it gets!

For a wine I selected a Malbec that I had just tried at a wine tasting I hosted.  The theme for the tasting  was “90pt Wines Under $30”.  It was my favorite wine from the tasting.  Malbec would not be my first choice for pasta dishes.  My go-to would be one from my quartet of comfort food reds: Valpolicella, Barbera, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo or Côtes du Rhône.  But this Malbec is different from any other Malbec I’ve tasted and it paired perfectly with the pasta.

Bodega A Noemía Malbec ’22 (Patagonia, Argentina)
It is neither the straight-forward fruit simplicity of inexpensive commercial Malbec’s, nor is it the highly polished opulent styled upper-tiered Malbec’s.  Rather, this is an amazing blend of Old World balance and restraint with New World flavor interest.  It’s a mineral tinged beauty unlike any other Malbec I’ve had.  I think the Vinous review is excellent: “A bright, purple-hued wine, it offers fresh plum and cherry [mentholated-cherry, my take] on the nose, complemented by delicate lavender and herb undertones. Dry and moderately lean, fine-grained tannins and a juicy mouthfeel lead to a long-lasting, flavorful finish. This is an unusual red within the Argentine context.

Cowboy Spaghetti

Ingredients
6 ounces of Tanqueray Gin
½ ounce of Noilly Pratt Dry Vermouth
3 blue cheese stuffed olives
A goodly amount of ice
6 strips of bacon
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper
1  pound ground beef
1½ cups beef broth
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp tobasco, or to taste
8 oz spaghetti (I used fusilli!)
1 10 oz can of diced tomatoes with green chiles (Ro-Tel)
1 4 oz can of tomato sauce (I used 8 oz)
1 14.5 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
½ cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Scallions, sliced for garnish

Directions
1. Put gin and vermouth into a glass pitcher, fill with ice, stir vigorously while incanting, “You who know all, thank you for providing us juniper and all the other obscure ingredients responsible for creating this sacred liquid!” Strain into a pre-frozen Martini glass of admirable size.  Skewer the olives on one of those tacky cocktail swords, place in glass. Immediately begin consuming.  Now you can begin the food prep, and the cooking!

2. Place bacon in a large cast iron skillet and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally until slightly crisp.  Remove bacon to a paper-towel lined  plate.  Let bacon cool, then roughly crumble and set aside.

3. Add onion to the same skillet with bacon drippings and sauté until softened.  Add garlic, salt and pepper.  Stir ‘til fragrant.

4. Add ground beef.  Cook and stir until beef is crumbly and no longer pink.  Lower heat to medium low and sir in beef broth, Worcestershire & hot sauce.  Stir in half the crumbled bacon.

5. Break spaghetti in half and scatter over the ground beef. Pour in tomatoes w/green chiles, fire-roasted tomatoes and tomato sauce over the spaghetti. Spread evenly.  Cover and cook on low for 20 minutes.

6. Remove lid.  Stir and combine the spaghetti and sauce.  Smooth mixture and spread the shredded cheese over the top, sprinkle with remaining bacon.  Cover, let cheese melt.  About 5 minutes.  Garnish with sliced scallions.

7.  Serve. Eeeee-Hah!

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