Cheap and Cheerful spaghetti carbonara

This is a recipe that I got from the BBC Good Food website and that I have only watched being cooked once. The reason I looked for this recipe is that I have just been blessed with the birth of my first child, a little girl by the name of Amy, and may I say she is the cutest thing ever, who hopefully has just as much of a passion for food as myself. But back to the reason I looked for this recipe: Now that I have a child of my own, I suddenly realized that I have to budget big time on my shopping list, as now I have to buy not only food for myself and my girlfriend but also luxurious items such as nappies, clothes and all the things you need to raise a child. And to be honest this was the first budget recipe that came to mind, as I knew it was cheap and I was quite sure it was going to be tasty as it had lots of my favourite ingredients in it. So if you want to cook a meal for two that costs just under a fiver, try this one and let me know what you think.

What you need

pasta of your choice

2 tbs of vegetable oil

1 large onion

2 shallots

2 cloves of garlic

200g of mushroom

between 6-10 rashers of bacon

100ml single/double cream

1 tin cream of mushroom soup

handful of fresh flat leaf parsley

salt

pepper

What to do

First of all you need to get the water boiling for the pasta. Once boiling, add the pasta and a pinch of salt. Now you need to get your prep done. Dice your onion and shallots into medium chunks, finely chop your garlic and slice your mushrooms. Also dice your bacon. Now heat the oil in a deep frying pan or wok, I prefer to use a wok for most of my cooking as it is more multi-purpose. Then add the the onions and shallots, turn the heat down to a medium high and cook for 2 minutes before you add the garlic that you cook for a further 3 minutes and the mushrooms that need to be cooked until they are soft. Once this is done, add your bacon and cook it for a minute. Then add the tin of mushroom soup and cream, bring your mix to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Now quickly chop your parsley and add it to the sauce - season to taste. Whilst all this is going on, your pasta should be done. Drain it well and add it to your sauce. Give it all a good stir, garnish with parsley and serve.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as we did, it is definitely one that will be making a regular appearance on our plates.

Happy cooking and enjoy.