Bacon & Onion Rigatoni

I love Italian food and today's recipe belongs straight in this genre, even if it is my own.  We use the bulky and sturdy rigatoni as the base for today's dish and then add the all time favourite bacon and onions to add flavour. Some traditional spices and flavourings are added to enhance the taste, along with traditional tomatoes. All that is then left to add is the surprise element that will ad both taste, an important nutritional element, as well as assisting to enhance the appearance of the dish. Let me walk you through this quick and easy dish that took me only half an hour to put on the table.

Start by boiling a 500 g packet of rigatoni in boiling water with a little bit of salt and a dash of olive oil added to the water. The pasta is ready when it al dente. Do not overcook to the point where it starts to fall apart. Once cooked, strain the water and return the pasta to the pot. Stir a dash of olive oil into the pasta to keep it from sticking to each other.

Bring some more water to the boil. Add a head of broccoli to the water. Add a pinch of salt and a little bit of sugar to bring out the natural sweetness of the veggies. Cook until el dente en strain the water.

Finely chop 2 medium onions.

Lightly fry the onions in some olive oil. Set aside.

Fry roughly 500 g bacon bits. Set aside once done.

Add a tine of diced and peeled Italian tomatoes to the pan and heat.

Flavour the tomatoes with black pepper, crushed garlic, crushed chilies, mint, oregano, sweet basil and parsley.

Add the bacon bits and onions to the tomato.

It is now time to start adding everything together. I use my large pasta pot to do this in.

I dump the cooked broccoli onto the sauce before adding everything to the pasta.

Stir it all together and transfer to a suitable dish from which to dish up. Serve hot.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy my books here:
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