Pasta au gratin with spinach and bacon

A dish with simple ingredients and without a lot of preparation. An au gratin dish is always welcomed in most households because of the numerous combinations of ingredients, the "not-too- much-time-spent" in the kitchen idea and of course the delicious taste the recipe offers in the end

Adapted from a recipe of Elias Demirtzoglou,
in the "Cook Book" magazine of "ETHNOS" newspaper

Ingredients (for 6 people):
500gr. of pappardelle pasta (or Greek "hylopites" pasta, the long type)
250gr. of bacon (from a block), cut in fine cubes
500gr. clean and washed spinach leaves
½ tea-cup of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, mashed
1 tea-cup of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2/3 tea-cup of finely snipped dill
½ tea-cup of fresh thyme, finely chopped (or 1 tbsp of dried)
1/3 tea-cup of fresh marjoram, finely chopped (or 1 tbsp of dried)
1/3 tea-cup of fresh spearmint, finely chopped (or 1 tbsp of dried)
250gr. of Greek anthotyro cheese
250gr. of single cream
½ tea-cup of Greek Kasseri cheese, grated (or mild English Cheddar)
1 pinch of nutmeg (optional -my addition)
salt
pepper

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease with some oil a spacious pyrex dish.

Boil the pasta according to your preference in plenty of salted water, drain in a colander, transfer back in the pot, drizzle with a bit of oil and gently stir. ***Don't over-boil the pasta though because it will cook further in the oven.

Warm 2 tbsp of the oil in a non-stick frying pan and cook the bacon until it gets nicely coloured but not too crunchy. Transfer with a slotted spoon on kitchen paper and leave to drain.

In the same pan add the rest of the oil and lightly sauté the garlic. Add the herbs and the spinach and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon.

Empty this mixture in the pot with the pasta, add the bacon and gently stir. Add the cheese, the single cream, season with salt and pepper and the nutmeg (if used) and stir again.

Empty the mixture into the pyrex dish and sprinkle on top with the grated Kasseri cheese. Put in the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a nice golden crust forms on the top.