Tuna Bacon Alfredo

This is one of my old-time pasta recipes. Some of my friends and relatives had been asking me this recipe before but I never found the time to write it down and, sort of, "structure" the ingredients and procedure. I used to call it "carbonara", but I do not put egg in the recipe, which differentiates carbonara from alfredo. So now I call it tuna bacon alfredo. For those based in the Philippines, I have some notes on the alternative ingredients at the bottom of this post.

Tuna Bacon Alfredo

Ingredients:
1 lb (450 g) linguine or spaghetti
4 strips bacon, chopped
1 small can mushrooms (4 oz / 113 g), sliced
1 small can tuna (5 oz / 142 g)
2 tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup white wine
1 can table cream (225 ml)
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup (10.5 oz/298 g)
1 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (or any cheese), grated + some for toppings
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tsp sugar
1 small green bell pepper, chopped

Cook pasta according to package instructions.

In a skillet, cook the bacon until brown. You may divide the bacon and crisp the other half for toppings. Place in paper towels and set aside. Remove some bacon fat and saute the mushrooms. Set aside.

In a medium-sized saucepan, melt butter and saute garlic. Add tuna and wine. Simmer uncovered until about half of the wine has evaporated. Stir in cream, mushroom soup, water, cheese, sugar, salt, and pepper. You can add more salt and pepper according to taste. Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add mushroom, bacon, and bell pepper. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Mix sauce with pasta. Top with grated cheese.

Make it more nutritious for your little one: Add a cup of chopped vegetables, like cauliflower (my daughter likes this), broccoli or zucchini, together with the mushroom, bacon & bell pepper.

Note: I use lemon-lime soda (sprite or 7-up) instead of wine if I don't have it. Still does the work of removing the fishy taste of the tuna. For those back home, you can use 1 tetra pack of all purpose cream (we don't have that here in the US). Also, you can use the powdered mushroom soup, if condensed soup is not available, by dissolving it in 1 cup of water. You might have to cut back on the additional water, and make it 3/4 to 1 cup instead of 1 1/2 cup.