Pasta Cuno Recipe

A creamy-tomato sauce loaded with fried bacon and mushroom. I came up with this one myself, I suppose there are all sorts of sauces similar to this out there but I am proud to say my only influence was my father's cooking.

Preperation time: 15 - 20 minutes
Cooking time: 45mins - 1.5 hours
Difficulty Rating: Easy but time consuming
Serves: 2-3

You will need..

1. One small or medium, white onion
2. One-two fresh cloves of garlic
3. Olive oil
4. 2-4 slices of smoked, back bacon
5. One chicken stock cube
6. 5-7 medium sized chestnut/field mushrooms
7. One 500g carton of pasta
8. One 200ml container of single cream
8. Salt
9. Basil (preferably fresh)
10. One pack of fresh or dry tagliatelle pasta
11. One 100g pack of grated parmesan cheese

First take the onions, garlic and start to chop them finely. Then take the mushrooms and chop them into any size you want but the larger the better! Dump the chopped onions into the pot and pour a few teaspoons of olive oil over them (don't worry about adding too much here, it doesn't usually ruin the taste) cook on low heat for ten or fifteen minutes until soft but not brown, then add the garlic along with the bacon and mushrooms and cook for a further five minutes on medium heat until the bacon is cooked through. Be sure to stir it often so all of it gets a chance to fry.
Once the bacon, onions, garlic and mushrooms have finished frying, add your chicken stock cube and mix it around.

Open your carton of pasata and pour all of it into your pot. Now turn the heat right down again to allow everything to simmer nicely, make sure to give it a big stir to mix in the pasata.

Stir in some salt to taste and then leave your sauce to cook for 45 minutes to an hour but continue to stir it every 10-20 minutes. Add water as desired, you can also choose to cook with the lid of your pot on if you want to prevent it drying out too quickly.

When the tomato sauce becomes a deep, orange-brown colour, you'll know it's nice and cooked. If you take it off the heat too soon, the sauce will taste too acidic. Tomatos need to be cooked a while to get the best taste.

When you are satisfied with your tomato sauce, take your basil and make sure to only sprinkle a couple of pinches if you're using the dried stuff. If it's fresh, go with three small leaves (or just add however much you want!). Then get your container of cream and pour in a good few table spoons until you get the desired "creamy-ness", stir this as well as you can because the cream can be difficult to mix in with the sauce! Keep on the heat for another few minutes while you prepare your pasta.

Get another pot big enough to take a pack of tagliatelle pasta, fill it three quaters up with water and bring to the boil, then add your pasta and a sprinkle of salt. Boil your pasta while stirring for 10-12 minutes if dry or 2 minutes if fresh until it's soft enough to eat but not too soft that it falls apart. Pour the contents into a colander to drain when you are done.

Now take your pasta and place it onto a plate or in a bowl ready to serve, add your sauce and lots of grated parmesan cheese (essential for the recipe), then fully mix the sauce into the pasta and once this is done, you may add an extra dollop of sauce to the top if you would like, the recipe is now ready to eat!