Make spinach cream sauce, brown belly bacon, combine and toss in cooked pasta. Creamy bacon and spinach pasta is superb as a side dish, snack or a very light main course.
Unless using baby spinach which has very tender stalks, I recommend picking the spinach leaves and discarding the stalks. Rinse the spinach leaves after picking.
Boil about four cups of water.
Dump the spinach in the boiling water, pressing the leaves down. Allow to cook for no more than a minute after the water boils again.
Drain the spinach leaves. Douse under the tap to cool. Squeeze to remove the excess water.
If you have less than a cup of spinach leaves at this point, you will need to use less sour cream and cream cheese. The measurements recommended above are good for a cup of boiled and squeezed spinach leaves.
Put the spinach, roasted bell pepper, onion, sour cream and cream cheese in the food processor or blender. Process until smooth but with still discernible bits of leaves.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Stir in the lemon or lime juice.
Add salt, pepper, cayenne powder and sugar — the amounts depending on the balance that you prefer. Mix. Adjust the seasonings some more, if needed.
Chill until needed.
Complete the dish
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water.
While the pasta cooks, fry the bacon in a non-stick frying pan.
When the bacon is nicely browned, turn off the heat. Add two tablespoons spinach cream sauce to the still hot pan. Stir.
Drain the pasta and dump into the bacon-spinach sauce mixture. Toss. Serve.