Mini Shell Pasta with a Creamy Smoked Bacon and Pea Sauce

If I could only use one word to describe this dish it would be, DELISH! If you love pasta as much as we do in our home then you must try this pasta dish, the combo of flavours are amazing. This recipe comes courtesy of the new Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food Cookbook, my favourite of Jamie’s books and one that is designed to teach people to cook good food from scratch. I have lots of recipes book-marked but this was my first recipe and it’s a real winner!! Watch this space for my next recipe from Ministry of Food.

Mini Shell Pasta with a Creamy Smoked Bacon and Pea Sauce

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
10 slices smoked streaky bacon or pancetta
A small bunch of fresh mint
150g Parmesan cheese
Sea salt and freshly grated ground black pepper
400g dried mini shell or other type pasta
Olive oil
A knob of butter
300g frozen peas
2 heaped dessertspoons crème fraiche
1 lemon

To prepare your pasta
Finely slice the bacon. Pick the mint leaves and discard the stalks. Finely grate the Parmesan.

To cook your pasta
Bring a large pan of salted 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 and the butter. 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 fraiche 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. It’s really important that the sauce is creamy, silky 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.