It’s not terribly original, but it’s a Monday night family dinner which takes about thirty minutes from start to finish, and that’s got to be good. The only essential ingredients are the onion, chilli, bacon, tomatoes and pasta. Everything else is just a bonus.
1 onion
1 chilli
100g mushrooms
1 small packet good quality lardons
1 tin chopped tomatoes
pasta
4 – 5 leaves swiss chard
a tablespoon pinenuts (quickly dry-fried for a minute)
fresh and dried basil
salt (be careful – the lardons will be salty!) and pepper to taste
Fry the onion and chilli in a tiny bit of oil, adding the lardons after just a minute. Increase the heat just enough to brown the lardons, but keep stirring and turn down again if the onion starts to catch.
When they are cooked, add the mushrooms and continue to stir over a medium heat.
Add the tomatoes and dried basil, plus a third of a tin of water. Pop the lid on and cook gently. After about 10 minutes, start cooking your pasta, and at the same time,add the finely chopped chard to your tomato pan.
When the pasta is done, serve it with the tomato sauce, sprinkled with basil leaves and the toasted pinenuts.
