Fantastic pasta sauce

Rummaging around in the fridge last night and trying to decide what to make I settled on a pasta sauce that turned out to be incredibly good. We had it with penne but it would be good for any pasta. Double it or triple it, it’s very easy and leaves next to no mess in the kitchen.(for 2 people)

What you need

200g dry penne
125g mushrooms chopped small (1/2 a punnet)
100g bacon chopped
100g asparagus tips (heaped palm of 2 to 3cm pieces)
250g tomato, basil, garlic and oregano mix (In a tin, this was a MIAMI product)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon butter
Olive oil

The process

Put your pasta on to boil in a large pot of salted water.

In a pan with a little oil, fry your bacon for about 5 minutes, add the mushrooms and cook until they are beginning to brown on the edges, toss in your asparagus tips and cook for about another 3 minutes or so tossing from time to time.

Now add your tomato mix and chicken stock, mix it up, turn the heat to low and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes. The liuid should reduce by about 1/3.

Add the butter and a good grind of black pepper, stir and allow the butter to melt and thicken the sauce a little.

By this stage your pasta should be ready, drain it and add it to the sauce.

Toss it to coat all of the pasta in the sauce and serve with grated parmesan, crisp bread and some sliced tomato with a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar on the tomatoes.

Simple and really tasty pasta recipe.