Midweek Meal: How to make this scrumptious pasta carbonara with a rosy red salad

Take your beloved pasta carbonara up a notch with this delicious recipe.

Pasta of any kind is always sure to be a hit when it comes to entertaining or even as a quick and easy meal to whip up after a busy day.

This recipe, courtesy of Aldi, takes it up a notch by pairing one of pasta’s most popular incarnations – carbonara – with a scrumptious and bright red salad of tomatoes, beetroots and radishes.

So feel guilty no more about your love of the Italian dish with this healthy pairing that you can have any day of the week.

Pasta carbonara with rosy red salad

(Serves 4) 

Ingredients

• 400g spaghetti or your favourite shaped pasta
• 250g back bacon, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 garlic cloves, crushed
• ½ bunch spring onions, trimmed and chopped
• 100g parmigiano reggiano, finely grated
• 4 large eggs
• 4 tbsp single cream
• A little parsley, chopped, to serve

For the side salad:

• 4 salad tomatoes, quartered
• 500g pack beetroot, drained and quartered
• 1 pack radish, halved

For the salad dressing:

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp fresh basil leaves, shredded
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Method

1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add the pasta. Stir, then cook on a rolling boil for around 8 minutes until al dente.
2. Fry the bacon in the olive oil until almost crisp, then add the garlic and spring onions, cooking for a couple more minutes. Remove from the heat.
3. Beat together the eggs and cream with a little black pepper and set aside. As the pasta finishes cooking mix together the tomatoes, beetroot and radish in a serving dish.
4. Whisk together the dressing ingredients then pour over the salad, stirring to mix. Drain the cooked pasta and return to the hot pan.
5. Stir in the cooked bacon followed by two-thirds of the Parmigiano Reggiano. Pour in the egg mixture, immediately stirring through the pasta – the heat from the pasta will cook the eggs to give a creamy sauce.
6. Sprinkle with chopped parsley, serving immediately with the remaining Parmigiano Reggiano.

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