Pea & Bacon Pasta

Last year I got hooked on Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, and the husband got me one of his cookbooks as a Christmas present! This recipe was in there and it’s now one of our FAVORITE meals. I love how it covers all of my bases so I don’t have to make any side dishes, it’s relatively healthy, and the whole family loves it. Really, you can’t go wrong. I have adapted the recipe for our tastes and what we normally have in the pantry.

Ingredients:

5-10 Bacon Slices
1/2 – 1 C. Shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 lb. Mini Shell Pasta {or whatever you have on hand}
2 C. Frozen Peas
Juice of 1 Lemon
2 Tbsp. Heavy Cream
Olive Oil
Pat of Butter

To get started…
Slice up your bacon
Get water boiling for the pasta
Heat a glug of olive oil & pat of butter over medium-high heat.

Cook your pasta according to the package directions. It may seem silly, but mini shells really are the best in this dish. As you can see from my photos I use whatever happens to be in the pantry. However, the shells grab all of the flavors and end up being the best…or maybe I’m just weird and have a thing for mini pasta shapes.

Once your butter is melted and the oil is nice and hot, add the bacon to your pan with a nice sprinkling of pepper. Take a moment to listen to the sizzle and savor the smell. It’s really the most irresistible kitchen scent I think. You might notice that the bacon in my picture looks a little off, and you’d be correct. I attempted to use turkey bacon for this one and wholeheartedly regretted it. The taste was not up to par, and it didn’t seem to get quite as crispy as regular bacon. From some internet research, I also found out that the health benefits to using turkey bacon over regular bacon is practically non-existent. So, of course, you can use turkey bacon in this recipe…but I wouldn’t recommend it.

After your bacon turns golden and crispy, add your frozen peas to the pan and give it a quick stir. After a minute or two, add your heavy cream {I always just eyeball it and pour straight into the pan without measuring}. Give it another stir. Your pasta should be done cooking around this time, so drain it and add to the bacon mixture.

Stir everything together and squeeze your lemon juice over top. I always add a handful of shredded Parmesan cheese at this point then let everything bubble up a bit. Once it hits that point, remove your pan from the heat and stir. Add another handful of cheese to the top and serve.

Doesn’t that just look delicious? I want to have some of this now! We’ve gotten to a point where I don’t need the written recipe for this anymore…it’s forever in my memory. But, isn’t that what helps to make a recipe so easy?

Hopefully your family will love this dish, and you can join in the Food Revolution!

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