conchiglie with bacon and peas

The cupboards are bare! I mean they were already bare until I figured out this meal. Ruth had bought some rather bedraggled looking peas at the car boot sale this morning and there was a packet of bacon at the bottom of the fridge. There was a glass of wine still in a bottle from last night but I turned my back and half of it was guzzled with a "mind if I drink this wine? Oh, you didn't need it to cook with did you?"
"No Dear, just leave me some, please."
To be honest, I was grateful that I still had the peas (willingly podded by oldest and youngest boys).
This isn't fancy - it's just supper (tea in my house :D ).

Ingredients:
Serves 5 (if 3 are kids)

• 250g smoked streaky bacon, chopped into strips 1/4 inch across
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed or chopped up small
• peas (fresh or defrosted frozen peas)
• a glass of crisp white or rose wine (a full glass, not the glug I was left with!)
• a handful of chopped parsley (I'm all out of flat leaf so curly is good)
• a few pine nuts, toasted in a dry pan until coloured
• 30g butter
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

1. fry the bacon strips in a little olive oil, in a large frying pan, until really nice and crispy, then set aside somewhere warm
2. bring a large pan of salted water to the boil for the pasta and cook as per instructions
3. while the pasta is cooking, gently fry the onion and garlic in the bacon pan with half of the butter
4. add the peas to the pasta for the last few minutes of cooking
5. add the wine to the onion and garlic and reduce by at least half (add half the bacon at this point)
6. whisk in the last of the butter and the parsley to the onion pan, to thicken the sauce
7. drain the pasta and peas and add to the sauce - combine
8. turn out into a warm serving dish, sprinkling the rest of the bacon and the pine nuts

Optional - watch in surprise as your children eat the meal without complaint or bickering!

Parmesan and wine always makes good pasta terrific!