Pasta and Peas

Let's not think about how awful this looks. 

1/2 pound spaghetti, linguine, or macaroni

2 tbsp butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp flour

1 1/4 cups milk

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

2 cups frozen peas

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. 
   
   Make the sauce while bringing the pasta water to a boil and cooking the pasta
2. 
   
   In a small saucepan, over medium heat, heat the butter and saute the onion until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. 
   
   Blend in the flour and cook 2 or 3 minutes more, without coloring the flour.
4. 
   
   Remove from heat and when the sizzling subsides, stir in the milk.
5. 
   
   Return to heat and, stirring consistently, bring to a simmer.  Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then simmer gently 3 to 5 minutes.
6. 
   
   Add the peas and return to a simmer.  Cook until peas are just done, another 2 to 3 minutes.
7. 
   
   Drain the pasta, toss in a bowl with the sauce and half the Parmesan cheese.
8. 
   
   Serve immediately, sprinkling each portion with the remaining cheese.

WHAT I CHANGED:

• 
  
  Um, most of the recipe.
• 
  
  I used jarred alfredo sauce instead of making my own sauce.  I was tired, and I had the jarred sauce.  Worked beautifully.
• 
  
  Bacon.  The recipe says you can garnish the dish with bacon, but I crumbled it into the pasta after I had added everything else.  I used a half pound because I really like bacon.
• 
  
  Subsituted penne for the other recommended pastas.  Next time, though, I will use linguine.  It had been my intention, but I discovered after starting everything that I didn't have enough.  Meh.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• 
  
  Simple can be very delicious and filling.  This recipe makes a lot of food, and we had very little leftover.
• 
  
  A jarred sauce really saves a lot of time.  I had all the ingredients to do the sauce from scratch, and I will probably try it sometime, but this worked out very well and took very little time.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: Enjoyed it a lot.  Broke his New Year's resolution about not going back for seconds.

Emma:  Loved it.   She ate three servings.  She also finished off the two servings of leftovers the following night.

Georgia:  Liked it.  Yeah, really.  She avoided the peas and only ate as many as I dictated, but she ate a lot of pasta and all the bacon.

Me:  I really enjoyed it.  I don't like it as much as Papa's Pasta (my own recipe) or Pasta Primavera, but it's much easier and less time-consuming to make, so I'll probably make it more often.  It was really good.