Spaghetti with Quick Alfredo Sauce

As recipes go, this one is one of the fastest and nicest one. Call me a fan of the old classics, but this one is one of the niftiest ones to make after a long day at work.

Ingredients (Serves 1):

• Parmesan- Grated, 3 tsp
• Cream- 1/4 cup
• Butter- 1tbsp
• Garlic- 1 clove, crushed
• Parsley-  2 tbsp (Fresh chopped is best, but lacking so, I made do with dried)
• Salt- To taste

 Preparation (5 mins):

Melt butter in pan. On low heat add cream. Stir in crushed garlic, cheese, parsley. Stir continously and in five mins you sauce is done.

Serve with your favourite pasta.

Tips:

• If you do not want your pasta to stick together when boiling add 1/2 tsp olive oil per serving to the water. Also, when draining, sprinkle with a little cold water, makes the pasta less gluey.

Spaghetti with bacon

Being the Eid break, have had more time on my hands to try out new things. This going to be a quick one. One of those dishes that you throw around in a jiffy if you have a small group to feed. Takes less than 20 minutes and can be thrown together with the bare minimum of hassles with easy to buy and store ingredients.

 Ingredients (Serves 2):

• Spaghetti- 200 gm
• Tomato Mozarella sauce- 100 gm (In absence of tomato mozzarella sauce  you just any ready made salsa and throw in a handful of shredded mozzarella
• Pepper- 1/s tsp coarsely grated
• Garlic- 3 medium cloves, chopped
• Bacon- 3 small rashers, minced (You can substitute with 3 tbsp of dried bacon as I did)
• Fresh Basil- 4-5 leaves
• Olive Oil- 1 tbsp.
• Salt- To taste

Preparation (Cooking time 25 mins):

Boil pasta with salt and water in microwave on high heat setting for 10 minutes. Add in everything else except basil leaves and microwave on high for 10 minutes more. You will know your pasta is done from the rich crust formed.

Leave it to stew in own juices for 10 minutes. I find that this way the pasta absorbs the sauce better and is real succulent. Garnish with fresh basil and serve hot.

Tips:

•  Leaving pasta to soak in the sauce for five-ten minutes before serving really makes it open up and become more succulent. Added advantage being that you are left with no extra sauce to dry out at risk of burning the dish.