Pasta with Crispy Bacon, Courgette and Herbs
The finished dish is lovely and creamy, and smoky from the bacon.
Ingredients
- 350g dried pasta see Notes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 100g smoked bacon chopped into 1cm pieces
- 1 courgette cut into chunks or sliced in ribbons (see Notes)
- 200ml single cream we use Elmlea to reduce the calories
- 100ml vegetable or chicken stock
- 130g ricotta
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh flatleaf parsley
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp torn fresh basil leaves
- 2 to 3 tbsp lemon juice to taste
- 30g salted roasted shelled pistachios roughly chopped, to serve
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta according to the pack instructions until cooked but still a little firm to the bite (al dente).
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan or casserole and fry the bacon until crisp. Add the courgette and fry for another minute. Add the cream and stock and bring just to a simmer – don’t boil.
- Drain the pasta and add to the cream in the pan along with 100g of the ricotta, most of the herbs and the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
- Toss the pasta gently to coat, dot the remaining ricotta on top, then sprinkle over the remaining herbs and the chopped pistachios, to serve.
Notes
- The original recipe uses dried tagliatelle, however, we didn’t have any so I used dried spaghetti. After eating it, we decided that any pasta shape would work well.
- For the courgette, the original recipe says to slice it into ribbons, however, I decided to try it cut into chunks instead – either way is fine.
- The recipe is easily reduced or increased depending on how many people you’re cooking for.