Cheesy Bacon & Mushroom Pasta

This sauce is good over any kind of pasta though I particularly like it with Penne.  It serves two, if one is a hungry man, otherwise it would feed 3 pretty easily; especially if you added an appetizer or a side salad.  This is another one of those recipe’s adapted from something mum always used to make – all of the basics come from endless hours of watching her cooking.  The first time I tried to make this I realised that though I had never seen a recipe or actually cooked it myself I seemed to know what to do!

Ingredients:

1 cup mushrooms - chopped

¼ Onion - finely chopped

3-4 Rashers of Bacon - chopped

1 ½ Cups Milk

2 Tbs Flour

3 Tbs Butter

1 heaped tsp crushed garlic

¾ Cup of Cheese – grated

Salt & Pepper

1 ½ Cups Pasta Shells (or equivalent depending on if you are using fresh pasta)

Method:

The first thing I do is put the pasta shells into water in a large pot & set it on the element on a low heat.  It takes a while to make sure it’s soft so this can be on and bubbling away gently while you make the sauce – you can’t really hurt it as long as it’s on a low heat & you mixt it around once or twice to make sure it isn’t sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Then add 2 Tbs butter to a pot and heat it until it is melted, then add the flour and mix, it should clump into a paste meaning that all the flour should be mixed into the butter and not dry.  Then begin to add the milk slowly – being sure to mix it well with the paste – lumpy bits are bad.  Once all the milk has been added and it is all mixed in it should be quite a bit thicker.  At this point I leave it on a low heat to reduce while I prepare my other ingredients. Stir it occasionally so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

Add the last Tbs of butter to a pan and melt.  Then put the mushrooms in, mixing them to coat them in the butter, and then add the garlic.  I like to start browning the mushrooms before I add the onion so that they get a bit more cooked – and I still like there to be a bit of a crunch in the onion.  Once the mushrooms are lightly browned add the chopped onion.  When the onion goes clear it is cooked – but you can cook this to your own preference.

Put the chopped bacon in a separate pan (or take the mushroom & onion out & use the same one because the flavour won’t hurt it.) I tend to cook the bacon at the same time as the mushroom so that all my ingredients are hot when they are added to the sauce.

Now that the milk has been reduced and the mixture is looking a bit thicker add the cheese & stir.  Again…Lumps are bad. Once mixed through you can add the mushroom & onion mix and the bacon.  Add salt & pepper to taste and then again stir until it is well mixed through.  The sauce is now ready to be added to the pasta – make sure the pasta is soft by trying a bit…this is one of the benefits of being the chef…you get to sample along the way!