Creamy bacon, mushroom and asparagus pasta

I made this recipes up last week after deciding I wanted a cream pasta for dinner but couldn't find any recipes which weren't too heavy. I love pasta, and this is such a quick and easy dish. You can swap the asparagus for peas or anything you like. Great served with some garlic bread.

Serves 2 (can easily be doubled up to serve 4 people)

Ingredients:

• Half a pack of smoked bacon chopped (you can use unsmoked if you prefer)
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 1 small glass of cider or white wine (if you prefer not to use wine or cider you can use a little chicken stock)
• Handful of chestnut mushrooms thinly sliced
• 125g asparagus sliced into inch long pieces
• 250g fresh pasta
• 142ml double cream
• Some fresh parmesan
• a small handful of parsley chopped

Recipe:

1. On a medium heat cook the bacon in a little oil until crisp and set aside.
2. Using the same oil you used to cook the bacon soften the onions for 10 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes until the garlic is just beginning to colour.
3. Add in the cider (of what ever you prefer) and allow for the alcohol to cook off (this should take 5-10 minutes).
4. Cook the asparagus for 3 minutes and set aside into a bowl of cold water.
5. To the sauce add the cream and mushrooms and allow to thicken for 5 minutes (do not cook for too long otherwise the sauce will split) then add in the asparagus so it can warm through. Season and add in the cooked bacon.
6. In the meantime cook the pasta as pre the packet instructions and drain.
7. Mix the pasta and sauce together and serve with parmesan and the parsley.

I hope you like this recipe as much as I did, please let me know your thoughts!