Dubious Quality

He sent a picture of this dish last week (I posted it), but seeing it in person, and the process he went through, was really something. 

The pasta dough was made last night. Tonight he used a press to flatten it and make it the right thickness. He made a pea farce and used a pastry bag to distribute it evenly onto the sheets of pasta. He tucked the pasta over, made crimps to separate into individual pieces, and cut them at the crimp. Then he put them into the freezer for a few minutes so that they wouldn't fall apart when they were cooked.

The whole process was mildly hypnotic, because it was very slowly and carefully done. Very procedural. 

He also made a parmesan crisp, which had a little lattice shape, and that was cut into pieces. 

There was also the frying of bacon and a sauce for the pasta. 

The pasta cooked in boiling water, then it was transferred to a skillet that had the sauce and continued to cook for a few minutes. 

I'm not mentioning the peas for obvious reasons. 

What was amazing about the taste of this dish was the number of flavors in one bite. If you put a piece of bacon and parmesan crisp on top of a piece of pasta, the combination was remarkable--the base flavor of the pasta mixed with the salty taste of the bacon, with the airy taste of the parmesan crisp. It was all balanced, with no flavor stronger than the rest, but they were all strong enough not to be overwhelmed by each other. 

I've had pasta in restaurants that wasn't nearly this good.

Obviously, I have quite a bit of skill in the "remove bag from freezer and set microwave timer" culinary school, but this was so impressive. And it was my boy making it. So wonderful.