bacon&broccoli penne

Updated at: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 13:32:41 GMT

Step 1

Set out: big saucepan to cook the penne, a bigass frying pan, an oven tray and some tinfoil. Boil the kettle and start cooking the pasta straight away on medium heat, wholegrain takes a while to cook and for this dish it doesn't need to be hot when served.

Step 2

In the meantime, prep everything else: slice or dice the onion as you prefer, divvy up the broccoli and slice the bacon (I did quite long strips).

Step 3

I quite like to roast my broccoli, so I packaged the florets in the tinfoil (and added a little water so they didn't get dry if I forgot to whip them out on time) and put the package on a tray in the middle of the oven, about 180°c for up to 10 mins.

Step 4

Add the bacon strips to your frying pan and cook until it stops oinking, then add the onion. When it's about as frazzled as you like it, remove the bacon and onion and set it aside in a little bowl. Keep the frying pan on the heat, though maybe turn it down a little if your hob tends to be hot enough to ruin the sour cream we're about to add.

Step 5

So, same pan: add the butter and garlic. Cook for 1-2 minutes until the garlic is softened, then add the sour cream and maybe two shots worth of the salty pasta water (though if you already drained the pasta like I did and your heart sank reading this step like mine did, warm tap water and a pinch of salt did the trick). You can leave this garlicky sour cream sauce to thicken as you frantically dice the chives: add the chives and as much grated parmesan as you'd like, I'd say about 40g so it doesn't overpower the taste. Grate black pepper to the sauce.

Step 6

The broccoli should be about done, the pasta drained and ready to add, and the bacon and onion waiting in the bowl. Add all of these things to the frying pan (maybe one thing at a time, my frying pan is pretty big and still almost overflowed) and stir to get everything saucy.

Step 7

Dish out, sprinkle a little more parmesan, maybe grate some black pepper, done. As an afterthought, putting the plain pasta on the plates and then topping with the saucy broccoli bacon might work for small pan-havers?

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