Pasta & Veggies With Garlic Cream

I like this recipe, it’s quite light tasting yet filling. All the added vegetables make me feel less guilty about the ‘bad’ bits. It takes about 20 minutes to make – provided you don’t dilly dally in the kitchen, like I do, I still manage to drag a 20 minute recipe out into about an hours work…. But to be honest I enjoy being in the kitchen singing along to my iPod, not entirely sure my husband enjoys my ‘kitchen antics’ as much as I do though, or the windows for that matter. Anyway that’s what I love about this recipe, minimum time and effort to make un-yet you emerge from the kitchen with restaurant quality pasta.

 Pasta & Veggies With Garlic Cream

115 grams cream cheese

150 ml heavy cream
115 grams peas
1 handful baby spinach
2 tomatoes, seeded and diced
450 grams penne pasta
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

TOPPING

6 Tbsp evoo
175 grams back bacon lardons
100g mushrooms
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 leeks thinly sliced
½ tsp thyme chopped
1 tsp Rosemary, finely chopped
1 tsp garlic, finely chopped
85 grams breadcrumbs
grated lemon zest

1. First, bring a deep pot of salted water to the boil.

2. Next make the topping, heat one tbsp evoo in a skillet, and dry fry the bacon until crispy, then add the spring onions and the mushrooms cook until they are soft. Lastly add the leeks and thyme, and cook for 2 minutes. Heat the rest of the oil in a separate skillet, add the rosemary, garlic and breadcrumbs, and toast them until they are golden brown and crispy, constantly turning them over, so they don’t burn. Once the breadcrumbs are toasted, stir in the lemon zest and bacon mixture.

3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in the boiling water until al dente - for fresh pasta it will only take a few minutes. Whilst the pasta is cooking, in a saucepan, melt the cream cheese and add the heavy cream, stirring continuously until the mixture is smooth, then add the peas and spinach leaves, and cook for 3 minutes. Gently stir in tomatoes and season to taste. Drain then add to the sauce. Serve into four warm bowls and top with the bacon crumbs.