Diana Henry Festa

I've not got any siblings, not really. I do, however, have an uncle who is more like a brother to me. I've talked about him before, and it's because we often cooked things together as kids (he's only 4 years older than I am). My uncle spent a lot of time living with us when we were little. He was a typical older brother. I guess, as he was the youngest in his family, this was the perfect way to get some of his own back on me! He locked me in the toilet, pretended he never knew me when I would ask him to tell my friends he was my uncle - the usual things! Mostly he was just fun though.

When he was old enough to drive, and he got a job, things got really deliciously interesting. He started working at an Italian take away. He'd often bring home pasta after his shift. What a revelation! At a time when the Aussie Pizza and Spag Bol were pretty much as fancy as it got, he came home with Spaghetti with Bacon and Eggs. Lots of garlic, lots of olive oil, and an amazing amount of flavour! It was just incredible, we'd never really had pasta that wasn't swathed in sauce. Never had it when it wasn't red from tomato or meat sauce.

Since that time we have both experimented with our own versions of this combination. One of The Lovely Man's most favourite mixtures is bacon, egg, curry powder and sweet soy. I'm now going to struggle though, to get past this Diana Henry recipe. I've had Cook Simple Effortless cooking every day for much too long to have used it so infrequently. I started making up for lost time, and have, in the past week, made four recipes from it's pages. Originally for two, this is what I did to convert it into a family meal:

Spaghetti with Bacon, Egg and Smoked Cheese

500g tubular spaghetti*
300g piece speck (bacon) cut into lardons
5 large eggs
about 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 tbsp coarsely chopped parsley
100g smoked cheese, grated

*Tubular is hardly ever suggested in 'proper' recipes is it? The thing is, for little children, who, (like it or not adults) do slurp the longer pasta into their mouths, tubular works. The hole in the centre helps to make it easier to 'draw back'! Now of course, if you want your children NOT to slurp, feel free to avoid this pasta, but me, well, I am happy my children (mostly) use their cutlery, and provided the keep the noises to a minimum they can continue to their pasta with gusto!

Bring a large pot of water to the boil.

Pop the bacon into a cold pan and turn on the heat, start it on a lower temp to render out some of the fat, and then increase the heat to crisp the pieces to a lovely golden brown. Transfer the bacon to a bowl, and return the pan, with a little of the fat to a low to medium heat.

Fry the eggs until the white's just set, with the yolks still runny....I love a little lacy edge around my white, but this is not to everyone's taste I know.

Meanwhile cook the pasta according to packet directions. Drain, and return to pan, tipping the bacon and any fat to the pan along with a tablespoon of olive oil, salt, pepper and parsley. Toss together well, if you think it needs a little more lubrication add another tablespoon of oil.

Serve the pasta onto plates, sprinkle over some of the smoked cheese, crown it all with one of the fried eggs and add salt and pepper to the eggs.

Serve immediately to five hungry mouths.


Cook Simple could well become my hands-down favourite Diana Henry cookbook. Certainly if the amount of meals I am still lusting after is anything to go by! The other recipes I have made are Pacific Lime Chicken, and there is a variation called Roast Catalan Chicken I plan to try next week as well. Greek Roast Lamb on Rice and Spinach (below) which would have been perfection if I had seasoned the rice well enough. I tried to allow for the final flourish of feta, but I erred too much on the side of caution, and the rice didn't have the flavour it should have. I found myself wishing I'd used a commercial chicken stock rather than my own home made as I know the commercial ones are highly seasoned. The meal was still delicious, just not as magic as I'd wished.