Creamy bacon pasta bake

• servings: 6 servings
• active time: 30 minutes
• total time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

250 g (½lb) streaky bacon (chopped)

3 tbsp butter

1 onion (finely diced)

2-3 garlic cloves (minced)

2 tbsp sage (finely chopped)

¼ cup flour

2 cups milk

½ cup heavy / whipping cream

2 tbsp parmesan (grated)

1 cup grated cheddar cheese (divided)

salt and pepper (to taste)

500 g (1lb) penne pasta (boiled in salted water, drained + 1 cup cooking water reserved)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.

In a large, oven-proof pan, fry the bacon until it starts to crisp. Remove from the pan and set aside. Drain off the bacon fat and reserve for cooking with.

In the same pan, melt the butter and add the onion. Allow to cook until soft.

Add the garlic and sage and cook for a minute before adding the flour.

Stir the flour into the butter then whisk in the milk and cream. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 5-7 minutes until the sauce is thick and creamy. Remove from the heat then stir in the bacon, Parmesan and half of the grated cheese. Season to taste.

Add the cooked pasta and some of the pasta cooking water. Stir to coat the pasta in the sauce. At this stage, the sauce should look quite thin. The pasta will absorb more sauce as it cooks so if it looks too dry at this stage, add more pasta cooking water.

Top with the remaining cheese and more sage leaves if desired then place in the oven.

Allow to bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese is golden brown.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 10 minutes then serve.

Nutrition

• Calories: 589 kcal
• Total Fat: 18 g
• Saturated Fat: 8 g
• Cholesterol: 51 mg
• Sodium: 572 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 76 g
• Dietary Fiber: 5 g
• Total Sugars: 8 g
• Protein: 30 g