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Budget-friendly Bacon, mushroom & spinach pasta

Now I know this doesn’t sound budget friendly AT ALL. Bacon is ridiculously expensive and mushrooms aren’t exactly the cheapest vegetable out there. But for 4, this is actually a really reasonable dish. And it helps that it tastes so good. This is the one dish that will debunk all the myths that budget cooking has to be boring and bland. The sauce has plenty of bacon and veg and it’s absolutely silky and creamy (without adding any cream!).

Usually I would add 250ml (8.45 fluid ounces) cream and loads of cheese to this which obviously ups the calorie content as well as the price so this is a win-win situation. Once again, adding things like garlic, onions and spices adds a lot of depth and flavour without adding too much to the overall cost of the dish.

If you wanted to bulk this up even more (not that you would need to) you could add some garlic bread and a salad (for instance if you’re having guests over etc.).  However, I really don’t think it’s necessary to serve anything with this other than maybe a nice glass of wine (and you get some REALLY nice wines for R20 a bottle let me tell you!)

The cost of this per person (it serves 4) is R13.50. This price does not include the spices, lemon juice and maizena which all add maybe R0.50 to the price per porsion as you’ll be using so little.

Serves 4

250g (8.82 ounces) Bacon, Chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
250g (8.82 ounces) Mushrooms, Sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200g (7.05 ounces) Spinach, Trimmed and chopped
500ml (16.91 fluid ounces) Milk mixed with 1tbsn Maizena
Pinch of Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Paprika
Squeeze of lemon juice
Salt & Pepper to taste
500g (17.64 ounces) Cooked Pasta of your choice

  • In a large saucepan, fry the onion and bacon together until the onion is translucent and the bacon is starting to crisp up.
  • Add the mushrooms and garlic and fry for another 3-5 minutes until the mushrooms are almost cooked.
  • Add the spinach, and sautè until the spinach is wilted.
  • Add the milk mixture along with the spiced and allow to come to a gentle simmer. Allow to simmer until the sauce is thickened. Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper and serve on cooked pasta.
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Post By Alida Ryder
 
 
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  • http://tiny-oven.blogspot.com Jessica

    This looks very tasty! I love spinach but I never know how to use it in a dish, will definitely try this on my student budget!

    • http://www.simply-delicious.co.za Ally_R

      Ooh I’ll do a spinach week soon so you can get some more inspiration. I just love the stuff! :)

  • Desire

    Hi there,

    I love these “put in one pot and cook” recipes. thanks

    • http://www.simply-delicious.co.za Ally_R

      My pleasure!

  • Matt

    Hey just as a question before i try this out wouldn’t adding the spinach that early on in the recipe cause it to lose some of its flavor?

    • http://www.simply-delicious.co.za Ally_R

      Matt: Because you add the spinach just before you add the milk, and you only cook the milk for about 3-5 minutes it won’t make that much of a difference. But by all means, add it later on if you choose. :)

  • Rose

    Ive been looking around this blog for a while now and I LOVE IT! But i havent gotten round to making any of the recipes, life always seems to run away with me and I end up cooking my good old faithfuls. This is the first recipe I have officially tried out from this blog and I was not dissapointed. YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I halved tha pasta cause I like my pasta to swim in sauce and there was zero leftovers last night when we were done. Will be trying many more recipes out soon!!

    • http://www.simply-delicious.co.za Ally_R

      Rose, I’m so happy to hear that! So many of the recipes literally take 20 minutes to make so please try them and let me know what you think! ;)

 
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