Spaghetti Carbonara with Courgette ribbons (serves 1)

Ingredients
1 small courgette, cut into ribbons using a mandolin or veg peeler
2 rashers of bacon or pancetta, cut into chunks
a knob of butter or a drizzle of olive oil
1 egg
75 ml (ish) single cream
20g cheddar, grated
spaghetti (enough to feed one) 
a twist or 2 of black pepper


Method
Get your pasta going in a big pan of boiled water over a medium heat, with a dribble of olive oil to prevent it sticking together. Cook according to the instructions on the pack.
Whilst the pasta is cooking, dry fry the bacon in a large frying pan, over a medium high heat until crispy. Add the courgette strips and fry until soft and just beginning to colour. Remove from the pan, leaving as much of the cooking juices behind as poss.
Whisk the egg and cream together using a fork and season with black pepper.
When the pasta is done, drain and add to the pan that the bacon an courgette was fried in. Toss in the juices. Remove the pan from the heat and add the egg mixture. Toss. The heat from the spaghetti will be enough to cook the egg, but if you find it's too wet, return the pan to the heat for a couple minutes. Scatter with the cheese and top with the courgette and bacon. Serve immediately. 

Quick tomato, courgette and basil pasta

Hi there, this is my first recipe. I hope you like it. It's feeds one, but will happily extend to more by doubling, tripling or quadrupling (etc) the quantities. It takes about 20 mins.

So to begin, get your pasta going (quantity depends on how hungary you are!) and cook according to the instructions on the pack.

In the meantime, sweat off a small diced onion over a medium high heat with a knob of butter and a drizzle of olive (or your preferred) oil in a frying pan with a lid, so that the onion effectively steams.

After about about 5 mins of sizzling add in a hand-full of chopped (half centimetre slices) courgette and a crushed small clove of garlic.

When the courgette is beginning to brown, add to the pan 2 tomatoes, cut into chunks. By this time the pasta will probably be done, so drain, plate and scatter with some finely grated Parmasan cheese (decent cheddar will also do the trick).

When the toms are beginning to break down ie the skins are beginning to loosen, add to the pan some single cream (around 100ml) and a squish (a dessert spoon approx) of tomato purée. Stir and simmer until the sauce  thickens slightly. Remove from the heat, add a grind of salt and black pepper to taste and pour over your pasta.

Scatter with some torn fresh basil leaves and the leaves from a sprig of thyme and some more cheese if you like.