Packet Meals - Dolmio Carbonara Meal Base

As I'm continuing my way through the selection of packet meals, kits, and similar, I made Carbonara last night from this 'meal base' packet.

Pasta Carbonara (3 serves)

Packet Meal Carbonara Served.jpg
^{The packet says 4 serves, but it really only does 3 small serves. It might be 4 as a side dish}

Packet Recipe

Packet Dolmio Carbonara Meal Base
250 grams dry Pasta (I used Fusili)
200 grams Bacon
250 ml Cream
1/2 cup shaved Parmesan Cheese (I used grated)

Additional Ingredients

1/3 Jalepeno Chilli, seeded and diced
1/2 Onion, diced

Packet Meal Carbonara Ingredients.jpg
^{so few ingredients and I still missed the packet pasta from the shot}

Method

Cook the pasta as directed on the packet. I always use time - 2 minutes from what the packet says so that it isn't overcooked, but also so that finishing it in the pan with the sauce doesn't overcook it either.
Cook the Bacon, Onion, and Jalepeno in a pan until the bacon is cooked to your liking.

Packet Meal Carbonara Bacon.jpg
^{I added the bacon first, then chopped up the onion and chilli, adding them as they were ready and stirred them in}

Add the Packet sauce, Cream, and Parmesan Cheese.

Packet Meal Carbonara Added Sauce Ingredients.jpg
^{It looks a little weird before it combines properly. Part of this could be because the packet was a little older than intended}

Stir well to combine and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes or so until the sauce thickens to your liking.

Packet Meal Carbonara Simmering.jpg
^{I'm pretty happy with this shot of a simmering sauce. Normally it's so difficult to capture 'simmering'. It may have been a little rapid a simmer, but it wasn't boiling...}

Drain the cooked pasta when it's done, and add it to the pan with the sauce, mixing it to coat all the pasta.

Packet Meal Carbonara Cooked.jpg
^{Should end up looking something like this.}

*Serve, with additional cheese if you'd like

Packet Meal Carbonara Served.jpg
^{...and like this in a bowl. Small serve for me this night, but was enough for me}

Thoughts

The age of the packet didn't really make much difference to the flavour, it's just a passable carbonara sauce. Given it takes as long (or longer...) than making Carbonara from scratch though, I'm not quite sure I'd ever be buying this sauce. It's also not as good as their Carbonara in a jar, which is a complete sauce (though I still add things to it...) so if I were buying Carbonara, I'd go with that over this every time. The packet also suggested it served 4, but didn't suggest that it was as a side serve. I used more bacon (about 250g instead of 200g), more pasta (about 250g instead of 200g), and it still only stretched to be 3 small servings. Will be having one of the leftovers tonight with some reheated cooked chicken.

Sure it works, and is Carbonara, but I don't get why it exists, with still having a half hour prep and cook time, when scratch Carbonara is 20 to 30 minutes depending on recipe.