My Pasta Amatriciana (bacon, mushrooms & chilli)

Thursdays seem to come round quickly.  Thursday is the only night that we can enjoy pasta (unless indulging at the weekend).  For an Italian family, this is hard!  The reason I avoid pasta during the week is that you need a fairly decent size portion (around 100g) to create a satisfying meal.  On the WeightWatchers plan 100g of pasta is a whopping 10 ProPoints! I try to work on a maximum of 12 ProPoints per main meal/dinner so that leaves just 2 for any protein or sauce.  You can forget about adding parmesan cheese!!

I have managed to find a handful of pasta dishes that fit into my lifestyle.  With hubby and I exercising at different times on a Thursday evening, I need to create a pasta sauce during the day that can be added to freshly boiled pasta upon request.  This sauce takes minutes to knock up and I have been known to do this inbetween feeding kids, talking on the phone, tweeting...you get the picture.

You'll need for 2:

• Half a red onion, finely diced
• 4 reduced fat bacon medalions, chopped
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Pinch of chilli flakes
• 1 punnet chestnut mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp freshly chopped basil
• Half a bottle passata
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 200g pasta: penne, rigatoni or farfalle all go well
• Black pepper

What to do:
Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan.  Add the red onion and saute.  Add the bashed garlic and soften for a few minutes with the onion.

Add the bacon and fry until browned.  Then add the mushrooms, black pepper and chilli flakes.  Once the mushrooms are nicely coated and starting to soften, add the passata.  Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer.  Throw the basil in at the end.

When ready to serve boil the pasta according to the packet instructions and drain.  Retain a little of the cooking liquor.  Add the pasta to the sauce and stir to coat.  Add some of the cooking liquor if it looks a little dry.

WeightWatchers ProPoints Per Serving: 11

Add a teaspoon of grated parmesan if you just cannot resist (I can't!) for an extra 1 ProPoint.