Meaty cheesy pasta bake

Due to the time-constraining effects of prelim revision, this quick and easy dish was feasted on by us last week but is only now finding its rightful place on the blog. According to the official Delia recipe it is technically supposed to have bacon and leeks but as it was a last minute decision, there was a serious lack of wintery vegetation in the fridge. As a result, this two meat pasta was created. Yes, that’s right – two types of meat!

On another note, napkin folding may soon become a new hobby...

Originally from one of the many Delia books in the house.

Serves 8 (or 4 for 2 nights – handy!)

500g pasta (personally I like using penne, but other pastas like macaroni or fusili would would just as well)

6 or 8 slices of bacon

1 smoked sausage (cabanossi from Lidl works really well)

50g butter (either unsalted or salted will do, but I used unsalted due to the saltiness added by the sausage)

50g plain flour

200g cheddar cheese with extra for topping

850ml milk

3 tbsp double cream

some nutmeg (which I didn’t bother with)

roughly 50g ready salted crisps

Melt the butter in a pan, and mix in the flour. Add the milk to this mixture gradually until the sauce thickens. Then add the cheese, grated, to the sauce until it’s melted through.

While the sauce is thickening, cut up the bacon and chop the sausage and fry them together.

Boil the pasta for 10 minutes and then put it straight in the dish.

Mix the meat through and pour the sauce over.

Lastly, add the smashed-up crisps and sprinkle cheese over the top and pop it in the oven at approximately 180.C – it should take about half an hour to forty-five minutes until the cheese is crispy on top (should really be a bit darker than in the photo, but we were running to a deadline...)