Bacon Sauce

While flipping channels I stumbled onto "The Best Thing I Ever Ate (in this case Made)" on the food channel. Generally I consider it a very strange proposal that people would tune in to hear someone they don't know rattle on amorously about one dish they ate, but somehow this episode caught my attention. Well really one dish described by Beau MacMillan, a chef I generally don't think much about no matter how often The Food Network hauls him out and tries to make him a super star chef. But as MacMillan went on to describe the pasta made by an Italian American neighbor (a recipe he learned and made his own) I knew it was a dish James would love. Bucatini with Bacon Sauce and Meatballs is a rich tomato sauce flavored simply with bacon, garlic and onions accompanied by meatballs baked in a hot oven. Is it authentically Italian? No, not in the least. Is it warm and comforting and full of the flavors that start you imaging family dinners and red checkered tablecloths? Yes, indeed yes. And that's more than enough for us.