All-time comforting bacon/pea/creme fraiche/mint pasta
Ingredients
A few slices of bacon, large dice
Big handfull of mint, crushed and chopped
Hearty handful of parmesan, grated
2tsp Lee Kum Kee chicken bullion powder
A packket of small shell pasta
Olive oil
300g~ frozen peas
The whole little 250(?) ml thing of creme fraiche
A lemon
Kosher salt and lots of pepper
Method
Finely slice the bacon. Pick the mint leaves and discard the stalks. Finely grate the Parmesan. Bring a large pan of LEE KUM KEE'D water to the boil Add the mini shells and cook according to the packet instructions. Get a large frying pan over a medium heat and add a good lug of olive oil. Add the bacon to the pan, sprinkle a little pepper over and fry until golden and crisp.
Meanwhile, finely chop your mint leaves. As soon as the bacon is golden, add your frozen peas and give the pan a good shake. After a minute or so, add the crème fraîche and chopped mint to the bacon and peas. Drain the pasta in a colander over a large bowl, reserving some of the cooking water.
Add the pasta to the frying pan. Halve your lemon and squeeze the juice over the pasta. When it’s all bubbling away nicely, remove from the heat. The sauce should be creamy and delicious but if it’s too thick for you, add a splash of the reserved cooking water to thin it out a bit. Add the grated Parmesan and give the pan a shake to mix it in.
Serve topped with more parm and a small squeeze of lemon. Salt as needed.
Note: you can make the sauce in its entirety while/before the pasta is cooking. It reheats just fine.