The reason why I love Italian food is because I love tomato sauce! Our couchsurfer Claire made this for us and I’ve tweaked the recipe a bit.

Ingredients

• 250mL heavy cream (can use lactose-free cream)
• 250mL milk
• 1 cube chicken or vegetable stock
• 250mL chopped sun-dried tomatoes *
• 500gr dried pasta
• 1 package of bacon (140gr), cut into small bits
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Step 1

Fry the bacon in a saucepan until golden brown and slightly crispy. Discard the bacon fat (place the bacon fat into a non-plastic container and let it congeal at room temperature then throw away. don't throw the hot fat down the sink, otherwise you'd have to flush the pipes thoroughly).

Step 2

Add the onion and garlic to the bacon pan and fry until the onion is translucent.

Step 3

Add the chicken stock, milk and cream. Bring to a boil.

Step 4

Add the sun-dried tomatoes and reduce heat to medium. Allow to simmer until the pasta is cooked.

Step 5

In the meantime, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to instructions until al dente. Drain the pasta. Do not rinse away the starch from the pasta!

Step 6

The tomato sauce should be reduced by half at this stage. Adjust the seasoning by adding salt and pepper to taste

Step 7

Add the pasta to the sauce and toss well until the pasta is evenly coated Plate up and garnish with parsley.

Buon appetito!

Note: I usually buy sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil. This saves you from having to rehydrate them and you get more flavour in the sauce from the oil.