Creamy Parmesan Pasta With Peas And Bacon Food

MINI SHELL PASTA WITH A CREAMY SMOKED BACON & PEA SAUCE

Steps:

• Finely slice the bacon. Pick the mint leaves and discard the stalks. Finely grate the Parmesan. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and drop in the stock cube (if using). Stir until it's dissolved, then add the mini shells and cook according to the packet instructions. Get a large frying pan over a medium heat and add a good lug of olive oil. Add the bacon to the pan, sprinkle a little pepper over and fry until golden and crisp.
• Meanwhile, finely chop your mint leaves. As soon as the bacon is golden, add your frozen peas and give the pan a good shake. After a minute or so, add the crème fraîche and chopped mint to the bacon and peas. Drain the pasta in a colander over a large bowl, reserving some of the cooking water.
• Add the pasta to the frying pan. Halve your lemon and squeeze the juice over the pasta. When it's all bubbling away nicely, remove from the heat. The sauce should be creamy and delicious but if it's too thick for you, add a splash of the reserved cooking water to thin it out a bit. Add the grated Parmesan and give the pan a shake to mix it in.
• Divide your pasta between plates or bowls, or put it on the table in a large serving dish and let everyone help themselves. Lovely with a simply dressed green salad.

PASTA WITH CREAMY BACON AND PEA SAUCE

Steps:

• This is another recipe with a really simple sauce, so before you start any really cooking you want to bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and drop your pasta. Make sure to reserve a cup or so of the cooking water. We started cooking the sauce as the water began to boil and the timing seemed to work out perfectly.
• In a large, high-sided pan, melt the butter and olive oil together over medium heat. Toss the bacon into the pan with some pepper and cook until crispy and golden brown, about five minutes. Add the peas to the pan, stirring to combine. Give the peas a minute or two to defrost, then add the creme friache and mint. Stir until the creme friache has melted and coated everything nicely. Season with salt and pepper.
• Drain the pasta and add it directly to the sauce pan. Pour the lemon juice over the pasta and stir everything to combine well, making sure the sauce coats each piece of pasta nicely. Finally, mix in the Parmesan cheese. Add some of the cooking liquid to thin out the sauce if desired (this is based totally on personal preference...we didn't add any water).

PASTA WITH BACON AND PEAS

Steps:

• Place ricotta, parmesan, butter, salt and pepper in a large bowl. set aside. Fry bacon in skillet til crisp. Transfer bacon to paper plate to drain, crumbling once cooled. Reserve pan and bacon grease.
• To the bacon pan, add onion and cook about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 more minute. Transfer onion mixture to cheese mixture.
• Meanwhile, cook pasta in boiling water. When it is just 1 minute till done, add peas to water.
• Reserving 1 cup of pasta/pea water, drain pasta and peas. Add half of the pasta water to the cheese mixture along with the lemon juice and mix till smooth.
• Add pasta and peas to the cheese mixture and toss to coat, adding more reserved water as necessary to moisten pasta. Stir in bacon bits, adjust seasoning, and serve.