Lardons, French salt pork similar to bacon or pancetta, are used as a seasoning for braised meat and all sorts of other things. Today, headed southwest underway to the coast of Columbia, we used them to season shrimp and vegetables, loading up a nice bed of vegetable fettuccini.
Nothing shows the challenges of galley cooking like a gimbaled oven in 4-6 foot seas. To put this into perspective, keep in mind as you watch the swinging stove that it’s actually not the stove, but the boat underneath, that’s moving. The gimbaled stove stays level with the earth; it’s the boat that’s moving with the motion of the sea. Any way you look at it, it’s a real challenge getting your spoon into the pot.
Shrimp Lardon on Fettuccini
1/4 pound of Lardons, bacon or pancetta
(additional olive oil if needed)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4-6 cayenne peppers, minced
1 8 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon thyme
1 1/2 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted (opptional)
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 lb shrimp
1/2 lb pasta
Chop the onions and peppers. Mince the garlic and cayennes.
Sauté the lardons in a large skillet until fat is rendered.
Add garlic, onions and cayennes (add some olive oil if there is not enough fat rendered) and sauté until translucent.
Add the green peppers and thyme and continue to sauté for 5 minutes, until pepper is slightly cooked.
Stir in the can of dice tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Add the shrimp and continue to cook until shrimp starts to turn pink.
Add pine nuts. If you have the time to toast them, all the better. We were underway with a 6:00 ARC “call-in” deadline so we rushed through that part of it.
Meanwhile, start boiling water for your pasta.
Below is the pasta we used. First Mate/Admiral in Chief Torie is very diligent about bugs so she’s recently been microwaving the pasta before vacuum-sealing it into serving-sized bags. This pasta was a “vegetable” variety and apparently had moisture which caused it to bubble a bit. No worse for the wear!
Boil the pasta until al dente.
Serve the shrimp sauce on a bed of pasta in each bowl.
Below is Torie with her dinner and the undulating seas, rising and falling behind her.
Shrimp Lardons on Fettuccini
Ingredients
- 1/4 lb Lardons (bacon or pancetta)
- 1+ tbsp Olive oil (if needed)
- 1 Medium onion, chopped
- 1 Bell pepper, chopped
- 4 Garlic cloves, minced
- 4-6 Cayenne peppers, minced
- 1 13 oz Can diced tomatoes
- 1 tsp Thyme
- 1 1/2 tbsp Pine nuts, toasted (if possible)
- 3/4 lb Shrimp, (fresh or frozen and thawed)
- 1/2 lb Pasta
Instructions
- Chop the onions and peppers. Mince the garlic and cayennes.
- Sauté the lardons in a large skillet until fat is rendered.
- Add garlic, onions and cayennes (add some olive oil if there is not enough fat rendered) and sauté until translucent.
- Add the green peppers and thyme and continue to sauté for 5 minutes, until pepper is slightly cooked.
- Stir in the can of dice tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Add the shrimp and continue to cook until shrimp starts to turn pink.
- Add pine nuts. If you have the time to toast them, all the better. We were underway with a 6:00 ARC "call-in" deadline so we rushed through that part of it.
- Meanwhile, start boiling water for your pasta. Boil the pasta until al dente.
- Serve the shrimp sauce on a bed of pasta in each bowl.
Notes
