The Best Pasta Bake Ever.

Some notes:

- This makes enough for tea and lunch the next day! Did for me, anyways.

- I'm really into double cream right now

- You're gonna need a shitload of mushrooms

Luckily, my housemate had a bag to get rid of, so before they went out of date, I thought I'd scoff 'em down.

I mean, really, look at them...

That is a lot of mushrooms, non?

This is the first time I used cream to make the sauce, and I only used it to use it up, but it took it up a level and I'm probs gonna put it in every pasta bake I ever make now - yes, the sauce is rich, but it's also delicious, creamy, and full of flavour.

ingredients

one shitload of mushrooms (what? it's a standard measurement unit! orite, orite, a couple of handfuls)

two handfuls pasta (as usual, I use wholegrain...)

one garlic clove

one small onion (or half a large one)

one slice bacon*

one handful baby spinach

a splash of milk

about 50ml double (or single) cream

one small handful of grated cheese

sprinklings of

salt

pepper

basil

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cook the pasta as per the instructions. you might wanna turn on the oven (to a medium heat) already; it'll be nice and warm by the time you need it.

chop the onion into slices and the garlic finely, and chop the bacon and mushrooms into bitesize chunks - fry them all off in that order, until they all look about done.

when the pasta is done, drain it then put it back into the pan, wherein you should quickly add the milk and cream, and the sprinklings and stir 'em. throw in the frying pan of food, and the handful of spinach, and keep on stirring til everything is covered in sauce.

if the sauce is too thick, add some more milk; if it's too thin, add some plain flour and whisk it into the mix so you don't get lumps.

pour the mix into a casserole dish (anything that will withstand the oven, yeah?) and whack it into the oven for about 15 mins. it should be crispy up top.

after this time, sprinkle the cheese on the top (this is, of course, optional) and cook for another 5-10 mins. as long as the cheese is melted but not burnt, it's all good.

serve!

*course, leave out the bacon (again, using it up) for a veggie meal; i have tagged it as such!