Adding Bacon To Wholewheat Pasta Bake

Our answer

Nigella's Hearty Wholewheat Pasta With Brussels Sprouts, Cheese And Potatoes (from NIGELLISSIMA) is a warming winter pasta bake. Adding bacon or pancetta to the recipe is fine for meat eaters, as the flavour marries well with all of the other ingredients.

You can use smoked or unsmoked bacon, as you prefer (and in the UK we would suggest using thin cut streaky bacon). Most pancetta is unsmoked, though it is possible to find smoked pancetta as well. We would suggest using approximately 225g (8 ounces) bacon and cooking it until crisp, then crumbling the cooked bacon into the pasta after you have mixed in the ricotta, Gruyère and pasta cooking water. You could also use crisp cooked lardons as an alternative. Bacon can be quite salty, so we would also suggest that you taste the dish before adding any extra seasoning.