This spaghetti with lemon, bacon and zucchini is delicious. The trick is to make sure the lemon is not overpowering in the dish, you want it there to add some freshness, zing and flavour, but it’s not all about the lemon.

I love making this spaghetti when I’m looking for something quick and easy for dinner, there’s minimal preparation and you can have dinner on the table in under 30 minutes. I also love that it’s not laden with cream, you can eat this and not feel anywhere near as guilty as you would a creamy pasta. Plus it’s yum!

This recipe serves 4 but it’s easily halved for 2 people.

If you’d prefer a creamy pasta, you could try this carbonara pasta bake, spaghetti bacon carbonara or creamy chilli and garlic pasta spirals with bacon.

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 20 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 500 g dried spaghetti
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 zucchini, diced
• 250-300 g bacon, diced
• 1 -2 lemons, juiced
• parmesan cheese, to taste
• salt and pepper, to taste

Method

1. Cook the spaghetti as directed by the packet.
2. While the spaghetti is cooking, heat the oil to a medium heat in a frying pan. Fry the onions until the onions have softened.
3. Add the garlic to the pan and cook until fragrant.
4. Add the zucchini and bacon to the pan and fry for a further 5 minutes until the bacon is cooked.
5. Once the spaghetti is cooked, drain it in a colander and then return it to the saucepan. Stir through the bacon and zucchini mixture.
6. Stir in the lemon juice, a bit at a time, tasting it to make sure you are satisfied with the flavour. Then add the cheese, salt and pepper to taste.