Creamy Pasta with Bacon and Cheese (Pâtes aux Lardons et Comté)

You may not think of pasta when you think of Paris, but now I will. This creamy rigatoni with bacon and comté cheese is an easy pasta recipe that's comforting and elegant at the same time. It's rich and delicious, yet made with simple ingredients. Everything you expect French food to be.

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When we were planning our trip to Paris and I was thinking of all of the recipe inspiration I would come back with, I honestly never thought I would be sharing a creamy pasta recipe. But on our last night there, I had this magical cheesy baked deliciousness, and I couldn't keep it from you.

It's really exceptionally French, with béchamel sauce as the base, nutty comté cheese, and a bit of smoky bacon to replace the classic French ham (the French LOVE ham!) that you can't readily find in the States. This is an easy pasta recipe that will transport you to a Parisian bistro!

Jump to:

• The Parisian dinner that inspired this recipe
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Tips and Substitutions
• Serving Suggestions
• Related recipes
• Recipe

The Parisian dinner that inspired this recipe

This was a big family trip: me, my mom, my husband, his mom, his sister, her husband, and his mom. Got that? The whole fam-damily. We spent nine days in Paris together for my sister-in-law's birthday. Our second to last day was date day/night for the couples. So, after a day of walking all over Paris together, my husband and I wandered into Hotel Amour for dinner.

I had seen pictures of this hotel in my Tasting Paris cookbook, and hadn't realized it was just around the corner from the hotel where we were staying. It had a great rock-n-roll vibe and a fun staff. Glowing red glass candle holders on the table, groovy music, it was lively, just the right amount of dark, great food and wine. And it was big.

After eight days of traipsing around as a group of seven, we found that it was sometimes difficult to get a table at the better places for dinner. Many of the bistros are so small they didn't have room for us, and we didn't always have our plans in place in time to make reservations in advance.

Because of that, on some nights, we had some meals that were - well, let's just say they were not my favorite. (Even Paris has mediocre restaurants...)

So while we were having our vibey date night, my very smart husband suggested we see if there was a reservation available for all of us the next evening, which would be our final dinner of the trip. It was right by our hotel, we would have the matter settled, no traipsing, no food that was "meh."

So we did it. We decided for everyone and it was so.

When we returned on Friday night, they seated us in the back of the restaurant, in an area that is all glassed in and full of plants. It was packed wall-to-wall with Parisians getting their weekend on.

The night before, I had ordered scallops, which were delicious, but then I kept seeing this big baked dish of pasta go past me for the rest of the night and I was kind of having regrets. I was not going to make the same mistake twice.

It came to the table all hot and bubbly with golden brown cheese on top. I dug in, and it tasted like something you would have at a cozy chalet in the Alps, all creamy and cheesy and hammy. Like a big cheesy Alpine hug. The pasta was cooked perfectly, and it seemed like the more I ate, the more cheese there was. I stopped shy of making myself sick, but it was a close one.

Our second bottle of wine that night (What? There were seven of us...) was a Bordeaux from Chateau Le Puy, their Emilien. The waitress was so excited when I ordered it, she thought it was the best wine on the menu. It's from an estate that has been owned by the same family for 400 years.

If you see it somewhere, be sure to try it. They were doing biodynamic wine before it was a thing. It went perfectly with this pasta, cutting through the richness of the creamy pasta sauce and cheese.

This creamy pasta recipe is rustic, homey and comforting, and I love to bake it and serve it in my Lodge cast-iron cookware. Either the 12-inch cast-iron skillet, or I've also made individual portions in these cute cast-iron mini servers. 

Now light some candles, put on some good rock 'n' roll, open a bottle of Bordeaux and whip up this pasta.

Ingredients

• Rigatoni pasta: You need this giant, tubular pasta as a vehicle for the creamy, cheesy béchamel sauce. It is going to fill up those noodles so you'll get sauce in every bite. Use a good pasta brand, I like DeCecco which you can find at most grocery stores. You don't want a cheap, low quality noodle to just fall apart in the sauce and ruin everything!
• Comté cheese: Comte is a French cheese made from unpasturized cow's milk. It is an excellent melting cheese. If you can't find comté cheese, gruyere is a good substitute.
• Bacon: Use a smoky, thick-cut bacon.
• Flour, butter, whole milk, smoked paprika, salt: This is our béchamel sauce, the creamy base that will combine with the melty cheese and get into every nook and cranny of the pasta.

Instructions

Grate the comté cheese and set aside.

Cook bacon, allow it to cool, crumble into pieces and set aside.

Fill a large, deep pot with water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, generously salt the water and add rigatoni. Cook to al dente according to package instructions.

Meanwhile, make the béchamel sauce.

In the microwave or in a sauce pan over low heat warm the milk slightly. You're just taking the chill off, not bringing it to a simmer.

In a separate sauce pan over medium-low heat, melt the butter.

Then mix the flour into the butter, and as soon as it starts to bubble, begin whisking constantly for about 2 minutes.

Gradually add the milk, whisking constantly to avoid any lumps.

Once all milk is incorporated, bring it to a low boil and continue to whisk occasionally as it thickens, about 4 - 5 minutes.

Once thickened, remove from heat and whisk in the salt and paprika.

Once the pasta is al dente, drain quickly in a colander and immediately return to the same pot. You'll want some of the pasta water still clinging to the noodles so the starches will help the sauce stick to them.

Add the béchamel sauce to the noodles and incorporate thoroughly.

Then add 1 ¾ cups of the cheese and incorporate.

And finally add about ¾ of the bacon and mix together.

Transfer the pasta to a cast-iron skillet or an oven-proof baking dish.

Top with remaining bacon, then add the remaining comté cheese in an even layer on top.

Place under the broiler until the cheese is bubbly and starts to turn golden brown. Comté is a very sturdy cheese and it will stand up to a fair amount of heat before it starts to turn golden brown.

But as always, when broiling, be sure to leave the oven door cracked and keep a close eye on it so you don't burn it.

Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

Et voila! A creamy pasta recipe straight from Paris!

Tips and Substitutions

• For this recipe, I cooked the bacon in the microwave. It's just going to get crumbled up and mixed into creamy pasta, so there is no sense in laboring over a hot skillet. If cooking it in the microwave is good enough for Jaques Pepin, it's good enough for me!
• You have to use the big rigatoni noodles, and a quality brand. I tried this with a smaller-width, generic brand noodle and it just wasn't good. I found De Cecco Rigatoni no. 24 worked perfectly and seemed exactly like what I had in Paris.
• Even though it is supposed to be a Mother Sauce, with what I thought would be one true formula, there are as many recipes for béchamel as there are types of French cheese. (probably.) I used one from David Lebovitz and found it to be the perfect texture and thickness for this creamy pasta recipe. I added a bit of smoked paprika to complement the smokiness of the bacon, instead of using cayenne. This is a double batch of béchamel. It will seem like a lot. I didn't think I'd use it all, but I did. If you have some left over, it will keep in the fridge for a couple of days.
• If you can't find comté cheese, use gruyère instead.
• If you can find good quality French ham, by all means use it instead of the bacon. Probably about 4 slices will do.

Serving Suggestions

Keep it super French and serve one of these for dessert.

• Believe it or not, Chocolate Mousse is very easy to make and since it must be made ahead, it's already ready already after dinner! And this one has booze in it!
• French-Style Hot Chocolate is the polar opposite of that stuff in the packet. Thick, rich, and made with just two ingredients.

Related recipes

Try these on for more decadent pasta ideas.

• Curly cavatappi noodles make this Baked Pasta with Goat Cheese, Radicchio, and Caramelized Red Onion the most sophisticated adult mac 'n' cheese.
• Use oven ready noodles and Butternut Squash Lasagna becomes a cinch!
• Can you get any more indulgent than Red Wine Spaghetti? How romantic!

Recipe