ThinkProof Cooking^TM
Pasta with Bacon, Olives and Tomatoes: Meal Guide

A. Menu

Type	Informal Meal
Food	Breadsticks and dips Pasta with Bacon, Black Olives and Sun-Blush Tomatoes, with Herb Salad Fromage Frais and Berry Stirabout
Booze	Red wine
Serves	Four diners; Starting 7.30pm
Sources	"Quick Cook", Thane Prince, Chatto & Windus, London, 1994, p18 "Sainsbury's Quick Cuisine", Thane Prince, Martin Books, Cambridge, 1993, p87

B. Ingredients Checklist

Shaded rows only if cooking just pasta and salad

Stuff to have or buy:

*Ingredient*	*Already have*	*To buy*
Mixed berries (450g/1lb; e.g. raspberries & redcurrants)
Onion (one; medium)
Garlic (one clove)
Herbs (fresh e.g. sprig or dried 1tsp; thyme or oregano)
Herb salad (packet for four)
Fromage frais (350g/12oz; 8% fat)
Bacon (c.10 medium slices: 300g/10oz)
Breadsticks (one packet)
Pasta (350g/12oz; e.g. penne)
Sun-blush tomatoes (60g/2oz)
Salad dressing (30ml/1tbsp; e.g. French)
Dips (e.g. one pot of houmus; one of taramasalata)
Cooking oil (1 tablespoon; e.g. sunflower)
Black olives (45g/1½oz; pitted)
Caster sugar (60g/2oz)
Sugared finger biscuits (eight)
Frozen peas (175g/6oz)
Pepper in grinder
Red wine

C. Pre-Preparation

None

D. Preparation

When?: Timeline minus c.1 hour (e.g. c.6pm)

How long?: Preparation takes about 10 minutes

Food Preparation

Ö
	1	Get a medium-sized bowl; If you've included strawberries in your berries, slice them up in the bowl first
	2	Put all berries into the bowl and roughly mash them with a fork; add 60g (2oz) of sugar
	3	Get a second bowl for serving; Put 350g (12oz) of fromage frais into that bowl; Beat until smooth with a fork
	4	Pour berries on top and use long knife to cut down to mix berries roughly into fromage frais
	5	Place into fridge and cover
	6	Clear away

Note: Keep food fresh in containers; Any dairy/fish/meat in fridge

Timeline Preparation

Ö
	1	Get cooking implements ready:	Chopping board and knife; Large saucepan; Frying pan and stirrer; Colander to drain pasta; Garlic press; Scissors
	2	Get serving implements ready:	Large serving bowl and spoon for pasta; Large bowl and servers for salad
	3	Get eating implements ready:	Large plates for pasta course; Small bowls for fromage frais; Wine and other glasses; Cutlery
	4	Make sure ingredients are all to hand:	Pasta; Breadsticks & dips; Bacon; Onion; Olives; Tomatoes; Herbs; Garlic; Peas; Pepper grinder
	5	Get changed for dinner

E. Timeline Cooking^TM

Ö	*Abs*	*Rel*	*Your*
	6.55	0		Put herb salad into serving bowl; Add dressing, and cover
	6.56	+1		Put on 3 pints (1½l) fresh water to boil in saucepan
	6.59	+4		Put out breadsticks and dips
	7.01	+6		Cut away any rind from 300g (10oz) bacon and cut rest into strips (c.2cm x 1cm)
	7.05	+10		Chop the onion
	7.08	+13		Chop olives (c.20-25) in half
	7.10	+15		Chop sun-blush tomatoes (c.8-10) into quarters
	7.12	+17		Put pasta into saucepan water
	7.13	+18		Chop herbs if necessary
	7.15	+20		Put 1 tablespoon of cooking oil into frying pan on medium-high heat
	7.17	+22		Put bacon into frying pan to soften
	7.20	+25		Stir pasta once to prevent sticking
	7.22	+27		Add chopped onion and pressed garlic to frying pan
	7.24	+29		Measure out 175g (6oz) of frozen peas; Stir peas into pasta; Put heat up to maximum if necessary
	7.28	+33		Stir chopped tomatoes and olives and herbs into frying pan
	7.29	+34		Check pasta is cooked; Drain, put into serving bowl and cover
	7.30	+35		Pour frying pan mixture onto pasta in bowl and stir; Add a grind of pepper and serve with salad
	8.10	+75		Serve fromage frais carefully into bowls; Add two finger biscuits to each bowl

F. Post-Serving Notes

The Meal

Perfect summer supper meal with friends.

Variations

· Use sun-dried instead of sun-blush tomatoes: but in oil not dried out if possible.

· Pudding works OK with full-fat Greek yoghurt instead of fromage frais; You can use raspberries and strawberries instead of raspberries and redcurrants (see pre-preparation).