By Pholosho Matondolo

Looking for a new easy family favourite pasta dish, prepared with few ingredients that are rich in flavour and is ready in less than 20 minutes? Then this Bacon, mushroom and tomato pasta is for you. I had a surprise visit from one of my old neighbour two nights ago, with just a few ingredients, I found this an easy, last minute supper to throw together.  It was quite late in the evening and we had already had our dinner and unfortunately, we didn’t have leftovers that evening. My neighbour had mentioned that she was hungry and I knew that on that cold night, I just couldn’t offer her tea and cookies. It was really a cold night, she definitely needed something warm to eat and I had to think of something to make quickly. This recipe was created with just a few ingredients I had in my kitchen pantry and I am glad it worked, and most importantly that my neighbour loved it.

Pasta always works well for quick meals that can be flavourful too; this recipe is so straightforward and it only takes few minutes to prepare. Another good thing about it is that all these ingredients are what one always has on hand in your pantry or the fridge. The feta cheese and bacon added to this dish make it so rich in flavour, as one can’t go wrong with cheese and pasta and not forgetting to mention the fresh herbs that just make it even more flavourful. Try it out, your dinner will be ready in just minutes.

Recipe – (Serves 4)

400g desired pasta (could be penne, fusilli, spirals)

¼ cup thinly shoulder bacon

1 tbsp olive oil

2 sprigs rosemary leaves, roughly chopped

Handful chopped parsley

250g white button mushroom, sliced

250g pack cherry tomato

1/ 4 cup diced feta cheese ( I used one with herbs)

Salt and black peppercorns

Method

Cook pasta according to instruction on the packaging. Drain pasta, but don’t throw away the water as you will need it later. In the meantime, heat oil in a non stick large pan on medium heat, then saute the mushrooms and bacon for about 5 minutes, or until golden. Add tomatoes and cook for about 4 minutes on high heat until the tomatoes start to pop to form a sauce. Season with salt and black peppercorns to taste. Add the herbs and the drained pasta plus a bit of the pasta water and stir well. then add the feta cheese and remove from heat after a minute, or once the feta cheese starts melting. Serve warm and enjoy.