Brussels sprout and bacon rotini
Short pasta (I used whole-wheat rotini)
Olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, pressed or chopped finely
A bunch of cooked Brussels sprouts (I used about ten, cut in half and steamed)
2 or three strips of bacon, cut into small bits
Salt, pepper, parmigiano to taste
Cook the pasta according to package directions. While it's cooking, drizzle a bit of the oil into the pan (just a bit, since bacon will be going in). When it's hot, sauté the garlic until it's lightly browned. Throw in the bacon (for this step I held the bacon over the pan and snipped at it with scissors) and stir around until it's mostly cooked, but still a bit chewy (or do it do death if you want. Also, at this stage, I threw in a small handful of sliced mushrooms, but only because they were on hand and I wanted to use them up). If there is lots of excess fat, pour most of it out.Toss in the Brussels sprouts pieces and stir around. Drain the pasta, but reserve a little of the cooking liquid. Add the pasta to the pan and let everything mingle evenly. Add some cooking liquid if it's too dry. Add in salt and pepper to taste. Top with parmesean, preferably freshly grated.
In retrospect I would have sautéed a bit of onion too, but this was really very good without it.