Confetti Spaghetti

Submitted by Daydream

"My boys always gobbled up their vegetables quick smart when I made this attractive, tasty spaghetti dish. Not everyday fare, as it is rather high in calories, but I have substituted low-fat evaporated milk very successfully for the thickened cream, and I can't see why you couldn't use low-fat sour cream in its place as well. This is adapted from a recipe which appeared in The Sunday Times years ago."

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 slices lean bacon, finely sliced
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 cups thickened cream (or low-fat evaporated milk)
• 1⁄2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 ounce butter
• 1 leek, washed and thinly sliced
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 zucchini, grated
• 1 red bell pepper, cut finely into strips
• 1 lb spaghetti

directions

1. Cook spaghetti in plenty of salted water until ‘al dente’, drain and keep warm.
2. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet and saute the bacon, spring onions and garlic for a couple of minutes.
3. Add the tomato paste, cream and Parmesan cheese, heat gently until cheese has melted and the flavours have combined, and season with a pinch of salt if desired.
4. Keep sauce warm while continuing with the next stage.
5. Heat the butter in a large pan and saute the leek, carrot, zucchini and red bell pepper until just beginning to soften (I like a bit of crunch left).
6. Combine vegetable mixture with the hot spaghetti.
7. Serve with the bacon cream sauce poured over.

Reviews

[Lorac]

Excellant! What a lovely surprise, I thought this would be another Alfredo with added veggies. The Parmesan serves as a background for the bacon, green onion, garlic and tomato flavored cream sauce. The briefly cooked veggies add another layer of flavor, and wonderful texture and color. I made the recipe with heavy cream, used the thin shredder blade of my food processor for the carrot and zucchini and the thin slicer for the red pepper. I omitted the olive oil and cooked the bacon before adding the scallions and garlic. The ingredients include 1 oz of butter that is not included in the directions. Since I omitted the oil, I used 1 1/4 tbls of butter to saute the veggies. I served this over linguine and was tempted to add more cheese but realized all it needed was a bit of salt. I made the sauce and prepared the veggies ahead of time, making this a quick and special dish that goes into my book of "magic tricks" !