EASY MONDAY NIGHT MEAL ~ Pasta with Bacon and Leeks! ~

Another recipe I found that I've tweaked to save time!   Found this in a Food Network Magazine!  YUM!!

12 ounces of rigatoni or other short pasta
6 Slices of cooked bacon, broken into tiny pieces
1 bunch of leaks the white and green parts only, sliced thinly.  Make sure to rinse well.
Ground Pepper
3/4 cup Heavy Cream
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Chopped parsley

Cook rigatoni in pot of salted water according to pasta directions.  Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water from the pasta.  Drain rest of it.

Meanwhile cook bacon, the original says to cook in skillet and reserve some of the bacon grease to cook the leeks in.  HOWEVER,  to speed up this meal, I cooked bacon in the microwave while cooking the leeks until tender in a skillet in a small amount of olive oil.  I added salt and pepper to the leeks.

Add the cream to the leeks in the skillet and cook until it starts to thicken. About 2 minutes.

Add pasta to the skillet along with the Parmesan, half of the bacon and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.  Toss to coat adding enough of the reserve water to loosen up.  To serve, top with remaining bacon, more Parmesan and parsley.

This took me about 30 minutes to cook!    Great fast Monday night meal!