I remember during my childhood years that my mother was someone who would bountifully fill our dinner table with all sorts of gourmet food on Christmas. When I married and had kids of my own, I think I may have acquired the way she prepares our Christmas dinners. Christmas for us is one of the best times of the year where we spend a great deal of time in the dinner table, enjoying each other’s company.  So I decided to come up with a fancy dish this Christmas, along with the Stuffed Dates of Blue Stilton Cheese And Bacon recipe I got from my mother. I would like to share my favorite dish with you and you might want to use it too.

Fettucine with Bacon, Arugula, and Blue Stilton Sauce

Here are the ingredients you will need:

1 lb. good quality smoked bacon

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 shallot or one-half of a small onion, diced

One-half cup dry white wine

1 and one-quarter cups unsalted, canned chicken stock

One-quarter teaspoon dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1 lb. fettucine

9 ounces Stilton cheese, divided

One-quarter cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

10 cups loosely packed arugula (or spinach leaves)

Black pepper to taste

One-half cup pine nuts, toasted 

Directions for Cooking:

1. To cook the pasta, bring a covered 10-12 quart pot of salted water to boil.

2. You may cook the bacon till crisp in the mean time. Drain them on paper towel. Break cooled bacon into bite-size pieces. Have two tablespoons of bacon oil in the pan.

3. In these drippings, sauté garlic and shallot over medium heat for 2 minutes, or until they become soft and begin to brown.

4. After adding the white wine, cook for six more minutes. Add stock, thyme, bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes. At this same time, add fettucine to the pot of boiling water, stirring often, cooking it according to manufacturer’s directions, and this should be about 11-12 minutes.

5. As your pasta is cooking, place 8 ounces of Stilton, heavy cream, and Dijon mustard in a blender or food processor and purée until smooth. Whisk this into the wine-stock sauce, reducing heat to low. Simmer until the fettucine is ready to be drained.

6. Drain pasta well. Set aside and cover with a lid.

7. In the meantime, add the arugula, pieces of bacon, black pepper, and pine nuts to the sauce, tossing frequently for 30-60 seconds. Arugula will wilt and bacon and nuts will become heated.

8. You can go ahead and taste the sauce before adding any salt, as the bacon and cheese usually add enough.

9. Then you can pour the sauce over the fettucine, tossing well using a large bowl. Sprinkle with the remaining ounce of crumbled Stilton.

It’s this easy! If you find it difficult to get the Blue Stilton Cheese, you can always order it online at the best cheese shop available. Order today and have a merry merry Christmas!