Oh people, I hate to do this to you.  I really do.  I know that it’s just a few weeks after New Year’s and we are all still running with that whole resolution mentality … but I simply can’t wait to share this mind-blowing pasta sauce with you.  I know, it’s not very nice. In fact, it may be downright mean.  But if you are going to stray from those resolution for a minute (which, let’s face it, we all will at some point) let it be with this pasta sauce.  Trust me.  The indulgence is sooooo worth it.

Just to give you an idea of what this deceptively simple looking bolognese sauce is bringing to the table, I give you two words: Bacon. Fat.  Oh yea, I said it!  And oh mama, is that some good stuff!  Throw in some tomatoes, white wine, nutmeg, oh my!  The complexity and depth of flavors in this sauce is far beyond the time commitment involved. In my house it has been renamed The Best Pasta Sauce Ever Made.  Clearly, we aren’t terribly humble around these parts.

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Confession Number One:  I hate pasta salad.  Always have.  Pasta salad is mushy and tastes like bad Italian dressing.  So you can understand my hesitancy in calling this dish that I absolutely love a pasta salad.  This salad hasn’t even seen a bottle of Italian dressing and its crunch-factor laughs in the face of all things mushy.

The one thing this dish does have in common with pasta salad is that it’s beyond simple to make.  Orzo.  Feta cheese.  Toasted pine nuts.  Dried cranberries.  Chopped arugula.  Olive oil.  Lemon juice.  Salt/pepper.  Done.  Confession Number Two: I’ve absolutely eaten a large bowl of this for dinner before.  So, here you have it, a pasta salad that is nothing like pasta salad.

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Italian food intimidates me.  I’ve heard the stories about Italian women spending entire days making sauce and unspoken recipes with no actual measurements. This scares me.  I didn’t grow up eating a lot of pasta and as a result never developed much of a taste for it.  But I’m well aware that the rest of the world is rather fond of it.  I’ve heard all the campaigns: It’s so easy! It’s so versatile! It’s so delicious!

These social pressures have, in fact, led me to obsessively keep a box of dry pasta in my pantry out of the fear that I will have an unexpected guest show up who wants pasta for dinner.  Now, this same box has moved with me to at least three different apartments.  As it turns out, people don’t frequently show up at my house demanding pasta.  Nonetheless, I’ve always been terrified that someone will ask for pasta and I won’t know how to cook it! Oh the embarrassment! Can you imagine? You can’t cook pasta!?!?! For shame!

They always say “But it’s so easy!  Just boil water and throw in the pasta!”  I didn’t believe them.  I was certain there was something they weren’t telling me.  Then they would toss around words like al dente and I’d be done for!!  But I had a revelation.  Thanks to Giada.

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