My Trip to Frankfurt, Germany (Day 12): Cooking in Germany

On my last day in Germany, I decided to stay in and just relax. All the site seeing and hoofing around had bogged me down. Besides, I was also running out of money. The dollar to euro conversion rate wasn't very favorable. So on this day, I decided to  go to the local supermarket and check it out. What I found were fresh ingredients and good selection. So I decided to make some food for myself and of course some leftover for Mr. Haribo Mule. It was kind of like a thank you for housing me and being the best host EVER!

After the took a full trip around the market, I went back to the sections that I peaked my interest. Collective in my mind, I was going to make a pasta dish. First I saw these beautiful mushrooms on sale. I got chanterelles and crimini mushrooms. Then I needed a little protein so bacon was in order. Lastly, I bought a few onions for good measure. Below are the ingredients are cleaned, chopped, and prepped for cooking.

I also bought a bag of tubular pasta, a can of crushed tomatoes, and some boursin cheese. In my head, these ingredients would work well. Many times, I just picture things in my head and I come up with a recipe that way.

Here is the Boursin cheese unwrapped so that it could come up to room temperature.

And now the cooking. First, bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. Season with salt. Leave the water boiling until ready to add the pastas. And now the sauce. It starts with the bacon. I slowly rendered the fat out of the bacon until it became crispy.

I removed it from the pan and retained the grease.

To that same pan, I added the mushrooms and cooked them down until they released their liquids and concentrated in flavor. I removed them from the pan as well.

Next, I used the same pan to cook up the onions until they softened and became translucent. After that I added the can of tomato sauce and simmered until it reduced. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Once the sauce thickened, add the mushrooms back in and cook for 5- 10 minutes more. While the mushrooms are cooking, this would be a good time to cook the pasta.

Once the mushrooms are nicely incorporated, remove the pan from heat and add the Boursin cheese. It should melt and make the while sauce rich and creamy. Add the bacon at the last minute and mix well.

Drain the pasta and immediately add to the sauce. Toss well.

The result was something truly magical. The pasta was al dente and the sauce was amazing. It was so creamy and rich from the boursin cheese. The mushroom added a really nice earthiness and the bacon was crispy and salty. The tomato sauce was sweet and just slightly naturally tangy. All together, it was really good! Wow, I really impressed myself by making this whole dish from concept to end product. In fact, I liked this so much that I made it few more times at home in NYC. I even shared the improved version (more bacon) with friends. Being inspired by fresh ingredients is such a wonderful thing!