This pasta is enveloped by a marvelous velvety sauce and stacked with asparagus, fresh bacon and mushrooms. Even better, it’s completely made in one pot!
You know what, this is the first pot pasta formula I’ve transferred to the blog. I realized it was coming, we as a whole realized it was coming. So here it is altogether it’s wonder!
One of the superstars in this formula is asparagus. Asparagus really works actually pleasantly with pasta, and particularly in this unique situation. Since it’s cooking in the sauce with the pasta, it’s stunning flavors are scattered all through the sauce. It’s a truly conspicuous flavor in the dish.
Ingredients:
- 12.3oz / 350g Penne, uncooked
- 3 cups / 750ml Chicken Stock, not piping hot! (plus 1/3cup/80ml reserved)
- 1 cup / 250ml Heavy/Double Cream, at room temp
- 1/2 cup / 40g freshly grated Parmesan
- 5.3oz / 150g Asparagus, diced (woody ends removed)
- 5.3oz / 150g Mushrooms of choice, sliced (here I use Chestnut Mushrooms)
- 5.3oz / 150g Bacon, diced
- 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 2 cloves of Garlic, finely diced/minced
- 2 tbsp finely diced Fresh Parsley
- 1 medium Onion, finely diced
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
Instructions:
- In a large pot over medium heat add diced bacon and fry until the fat fully renders and the bacon is nice and crispy. Don’t be tempted to crank up the heat, you want it fairly low and slow to render down the fat. Remove bacon from pot and place in a bowl to one side, leaving the bacon fat behind.
- Melt in 2 tbsp butter, then add asparagus, mushrooms and onion. Fry until they begin to brown then add garlic and fry for a couple of minutes longer.
- Pour in 3cups/750ml chicken stock and 1cup/250ml cream (important the cream is at room temp and the stock isn’t too hot or the cream may curdle). Give it a stir, then add the uncooked pasta.
- Turn heat to low medium and keep it on a gentle simmer until the penne is al dente, stirring frequently as you go. If the sauce soaks up before the pasta is cooked add another 1/3cup/80ml stock or enough to cook pasta. You’re looking for it to be al dente though (still a teeny bit hard).
- Once the sauce has thickened and the pasta is cooked, add back in your bacon with 2 tbsp finely diced parsley and 1/2cup/40 freshly grated parmesan. Give it a final stir then serve up!
Notes:
- Hot Stock / Cream – Make sure the stock is closer to room temp than it is piping hot, and make sure the cream is room temp (or close to). Pouring cold cream into piping hot stock is a curdle waiting to happen.
- Emulsify – Because you’re trying to blend a fair bit of fat (bacon fat, butter, cream) with stock, which is essentially water, the starch from the pasta will allow you to do this. As such, it’s important to give it a good stir as the pasta is cooking, just to help along with the emulsion.
- Consistency – You’re looking for the sauce to be thick enough to stick to the pasta, but not so thick there’s no saucy consistency to it. If it does thicken before the pasta is cook just add a few splashes of stock (or water) until it’s cooked.
- Pasta – Pasta (IMO) should always be al dente (have a bit of a bite to it) and that’s how it’ll end up with this recipe. Don’t expect to have super soft pasta!
- Calories – based on sharing between 4 people.
