This is a nice and easy spaghetti recipe that brings together the salty flavour of bacon, with the added meatiness of mushrooms, and a great basil and chilli kick. The yellow pepper works well to add a contrasting taste and texture, as well as bringing some extra colour to the plate. There’s a lot of your five a day in here, so it’s healthy and hearty too, making it a perfect Italian meal that doesn’t take all that long to prepare or cook.
Approx. cost – £3.27 a head
Fruit n veg count – 3-4
Bacon basil spaghetti with a kick ingredients (per person):
• 1/2 onion
• 1/2 clove garlic
• 3 rashers of unsmoked bacon cut into strips
• 1 handful of basil finely chopped
• 2 flat top mushrooms chopped roughly
• 1/2 can of chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 yellow pepper, chopped into chunks
• A sprinkling of mixed herbs
• A pinch of chilli powder
• Spaghetti (as much as you can hold between your thumb and index finger when they’re touching at the tips)
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• Cheese (parmesan and mature cheddar work well)
Bacon basil spaghetti cooking instructions:
1. Chop the onion, heat a splash of olive oil in a saucepan and start the onion cooking on a medium heat.
2. Sprinkle on the mixed herbs and cut up the bacon into strips before adding them to the pan with the onions.
3. While they’re both cooking, chop or press the garlic and add to the saucepan, along with the chilli powder (AKA the kick), and give everything a good stir with a little salt and pepper for seasoning.
4. The best thing to do next is to get the pasta on the boil. That’ll act as the 10-12 minute timer for the rest of the sauce to cook. We usually cook our pasta in a little salt and olive oil for taste and texture, but it’s your call.
5. Chop the mushrooms roughly and add them to the saucepan along with the finely chopped basil and the chunky yellow pepper.
6. Let this fry off, stirring all the while until the pepper is heated through.
7. Pour in your tomatoes and reduce the heat to simmer everything to perfection.
8. Once the pasta is just about cooked, drain off the water and return to the pan to air for a few seconds before plating up.
9. Remove the sauce from the heat and spoon it onto the top of the spaghetti, building it up to create a little height, which adds to the overall presentation of the dish.
10. Shave parmesan or mature cheddar cheese over the top to taste. If your looking to impress, you might want to place the shavings artfully on top of the bacon and basil spaghetti sauce.
11. If you don’t faff around too much, you should be able to get this on the plate in under half an hour.
