Cooking With Em- Easy Peasy Pasta Bake

I don't profess to be a wonderful cook, but needs must and all that and sometimes I feel compelled to share a recipe that I use a lot because it's pretty foolproof and/or goes down well with the masses.

This  pasta dish is stolen adapted from a recipe by Nigel Slater and really is easy peasy. It's also been universally well received, which is always a bonus...  except for the peas obvs, because don't you know there'll always be little faction who rages against the veg regardless.


 Ingredients
250g pasta (any type)
12 rashers of smoked streaky bacon or pancetta
4 peeled garlic cloves thinly sliced
400ml creme fraiche
200 ml of vegetable stock
salt and pepper
large handful of frozen peas
grated parmesan

1.First of all, cut the bacon into pieces (or make it easy and just buy the pancetta) and fry with the garlic until they start to crisp.

2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta, and when almost done, chuck in the frozen peas and cook them together for a few minutes. Then drain and cool in a colander. Top tip-use the boiling water for making the vegetable stock.


3. Next, put the drained pasta in a mixing bowl with the creme fraiche, the vegetable stock ,the bacon and garlic and season with salt and pepper. I sometimes add a little milk as well at this point.

4. Toss everything together, then add to a baking dish and scatter the surface with a good handful of grated parmesan and bake at 180 for about 30 minutes till the surface is lightly golden.

 5. Serve with a green salad....although of course this will be eyed with suspicion and inevitably rejected if you live in our house.

I should also mention that this serves four so I just double the amounts for my greedy lot AND it freezes pretty well too. Hope you like it-  and do let me know how it goes down in your house if you give it a whirl.
Later lovelies xxx