leek and bacon pasta bake
| 500 g | pasta – any type |
| 2 lrg | leeks (use onion if you prefer) |
| 1 pack | bacon medallions |
| 200 g | button mushrooms, chopped (optional) |
| 2 cloves | garlic |
| 120 g | extra mature lighter cheese |
| 220 g | Philadelphia Lightest |
| 250 ml | semi-skimmed milk |
| preheat your oven to 180°C |
| cook your pasta – boiling water, remove when there’s still a bit of give in the pasta |
| thinly slice your leek and chop your bacon (and add the mushrooms, if using) and gently fry it off in a pan with a few squirts of oil from your sprayer – as they soften, add the minced garlic |
| meanwhile, make the sauce by tipping your Philadelphia and milk into a pan, put it on a low heat and gently whisk until it’s all mixed together – it’ll be quite runny – at this point, add 100g of the cheese and keep whisking – you’ll end up with a nice thick cheesy sauce – season it with plenty of salt and pepper |
| tip everything together in the pasta pan, give everything a bloody good mix, slop it into an ovenproof dish, top with the remainder of the cheese, some chopped spring onion or leek if you’re feeling fancy, and pop it in the oven for about thirty minutes until the cheese is golden and everything is delicious |
| serve with a side salad which you studiously ignore |
| top tips |
| any pasta will do, but we use farfalle as it has a good surface area |
| add a tsp of wholegrain mustard to the sauce if you’re feeling decadent |
| get a mincer for the garlic – so much easier |