February tends to be a great time for home cooks. In most of North America and the rest of our Northern Hemisphere friends, it's cold and dark outside, usually snowy. We want hearty foods, stews and other things that are best made in your home kitchen. And of course, being Valentine's Day - there are lots of home cooks whipping up special sweets for their sweetheart.
We checked in with some of our favourite food friends to learn more about their own Couples Kitchen. When it's cold outside and they are mostly staying home - do they cook together, or is one person the head chef? What are their favourite dishes? What’s a dish their partner makes that they love (or even secretly hate!)? What has cooking done for their relationship?
When catching up with Meg from Meg’s Cucina, we asked about how her and her partner Andrew tackle the kitchen together. She told us about their Friday Night Pasta tradition. We swooned. Easy, practical and totally delish.
Here's Meg and Andrew's story.
"One of our favorite dishes to cook together is something we’ve named 'Friday Night Pasta'. The dish includes Alfredo sauce with bacon, mushrooms, spinach and jalapeños. It's our favorite for a few reasons. First because it combines all of our favourites; a kick of spice, pasta, mushrooms and bacon - who doesn't love bacon?!
Second, it's a recipe we both actually agree on how it is made. Being in a relationship with someone who loves to cook as much as you definitely has it's perks but we’ve also learned that we each have our own way of doing things in the kitchen. So usually when I'm cooking Andrew will stay away from the kitchen and vice versa. But this is a dish that we've been making since we started dating (almost 6 years ago) and because we’ve totally nailed it down - we love making it together.
So why is it called Friday Night Pasta? After a long week of work there's nothing we love more than winding down with a comforting meal (and perhaps a glass of wine). But at this point of the week we're not in the mood to make something complicated. Our Friday Night Pasta uses easy ingredients and only takes about 20 minutes to whip up. So it quickly became our go to on a Friday night…and still is.
When it comes to making this dish, I am in charge of cooking the pasta and chopping the mushrooms, spinach and jalapeños for the sauce. Andrew is on bacon and sauce duty. For the sauce, Andrew sautés the veggies I prepared in a saucepan and then adds a store bought Alfredo sauce. He adds in half of the bacon to the sauce and sets the rest aside for garnish. Once the pasta is cooked, I toss it into the saucepan and Andrew mixes everything together. My job is to plate and then let Andrew garnish the pasta with bacon and fresh jalapeños. Twenty minutes later, our Friday Night Pasta is ready to eat!
It’s a satisfying meal that never disappoints. Whether you are a beginner in the kitchen or know your way around - this is definitely a dish that will impress your sweetheart." ~Meg
The Chef & The Dish gives two forks up. A delicious dish made together, both complementing their kitchen style and lifestyle.
Meg is the author behind Meg's Cucina - a beautiful food blog that you can follow at MegsCucina.com, check to find this recipe posted there soon. Follow her Instagram page and watch her kitchen creations with envy.
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